And the Possibilities
by angellwings
Summary: What was waiting for them in Lima was not what they expected, but that's where it all began.
1. Episode 01, Act 01

**The Librarians and The Possibilities**

by angellwings

**Episode One: ...And Morgan le Fay's Return**

* * *

_Act One: Lima, Peru_

* * *

Morgan le Fay was in Lima, Peru.

That was the first thing Jake remembered when he came to. They'd been chasing after surges in Ley Lines, and as far as they figured they were chasing after an ancient artifact that had to do with the Incan Goddess of fertility, Pachamama. But when they'd reached the source of the surges they'd found Morgan le Fay and something that could only be referred to as apparition.

With one flick of her wrist Jake and Ezekiel had been flung against the furthest wall, and that's when the world went black.

Cassie. What happened to Cassie?

"Come on, Stone, get up. We've got a big problem. A possibly apocalyptic one."

He sat up with a groan and found Ezekiel standing over him. The room was lit up with a bright light but he couldn't seem to focus on the source.

"What the hell is that? Where's Cassie?"

"Mate, that is Cassandra," Ezekiel said worriedly.

He stood up and focused his eyes on the light and, sure enough, he could make out Cassandra's red hair in the middle of it. He took a step to go after her but Ezekiel stopped him.

"Don't. We don't know what will happen if you do."

"But Cassandra is—"

"You bitch!" A voice yelled from the left of the light.

He recognized that voice. Morgan le Fay.

"That child has no right to the power you've just given her!"

"And you thought I would give it to you?"

The voice that came out of Cassandra's mouth was definitely not her own. The light around her dimmed considerably and Jake could see that she was floating. Cassandra was floating in the middle of the room. The color in her blue eyes had vanished completely, leaving her eyes a blinding white. The sight left Jake with more fear than he'd ever felt in his life.

"You don't have a choice!" Morgan yelled. "I didn't come here for you to give it to me. I came here to take it! Do you think she can host your magic? She doesn't even know the potential she holds! She's barely aware of her capabilities. I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but if you plan on using her as a host that one's defective!"

"This one is strong. You are weak. My hosts do not effect me, I affect them," said the thing that was inside Cassandra.

"We gotta do something, Jones! That thing has Cassie!"

"Yeah, I'd love to help but I've got nothing. I'm a thief, not a…well I don't know what could handle this," he said as he watched the scene with wide eyes.

"Cassandra!" Jake yelled. "I know you gotta be in there, kid. Fight back!"

"Hush now," the creature yelled as it turned Cassie's eyes on him in a stern glare. "The child is safe. You do not need to worry."

"Surprisingly not comforting!" Ezekiel yelled in return.

Morgan stomped like a petulant child and flicked her wrist at Jake and Ezekiel once again. Suddenly it felt as if a hand were on his throat, strangling him.

"Yes, Cassandra, let the power go. Or I'll have a little fun with your friends here. Surely, you won't let her get them killed," Morgan said with a sickening grin. Jake could feel the blood leaving his face as his vision darkened around the edges.

"Enough!" Cassandra yelled. That was Cassandra. His Cassandra. "What do you want?"

"Just her," Morgan sneered. "You are insignificant and so are these two idiots. I just want her."

"You'll kill her," Cassie stated.

"Well, of course I will, darling, but it's either her or them," Morgan said. She circled Cassandra as her feet landed on the floor of the Stone Temple. "Now, let her go. And I'll let them go."

Cassandra glanced over at Jake and Ezekiel. She looked torn and sad and broken, but her eyes were blue again. He breathed a sigh of relief at that, at least.

"I—I can't," she stuttered as her eyes began to water.

"Choosing to save yourself over your friends again, are you? Can't say I'm surprise after what I've heard from dear Dulaque—"

"No," she said with a glare. "I can't. I'm not holding her. She's holding me."

Her hands went to her temples and she winced in pain as she fell to the ground. Jake fought against the magic that was holding him, but it was no good. She turned those blue eyes to meet Jake's and manage to speak through her tears, "I'm so sorry. I can't fight her. I can't." Cassandra went rigid all of a sudden and then slowly her body began to float again. The light returned to her eyes and softly encased her body.

"I am sorry," the strange voice said as it too apologized to Jake and Ezekiel. "I did not intend for anyone to be hurt. But the witch cannot obtain my power. She'll let the world burn. You must understand. I have no choice."

Blood dribbled from Cassandra's nose and her hand reached up to wipe it away. "Poor child," the voice said in a tone that was filled with despair. More despair than he ever thought a person could feel. But then he doubted the thing inside of her was a person. "Morgan le Fay, I leave with you with one warning. Heed my words or pay the price when next we meet. Do not kill The Librarians. If I find they have been harmed your eternal life will come to a very sudden end."

Morgan opened her mouth to protest but before she could utter a word Cassandra's hand clapped over her head and there was a flash of light that lit up the entire room.

Then she was gone. Cassandra was gone.

Morgan le Fay screamed in frustration and released Ezekiel and Jake. "I finally had the old girl cornered and then your little bimbo with the brain tumor had to ruin it all! DAMN YOU, VIVIANE! You can't hide from me forever!" She shouted at the ceiling. "When I find you, and I will find you, you and the kid are dead! You hear me? You're dead!"

Jake and Ezekiel scrambled to stand up as Morgan stormed toward them. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as Jake took a fighting stance.

"Please, you Barbarian, I could take you down with a wave of my pinky."

"Where did that thing take Cassandra?" Ezekiel shouted.

Jake glared at Morgan le Fay. "You said Viviane."

"That's right, I did. Should I repeat it? Maybe slower this time?" Morgan asked with a quirked brow. She huffed. "And I have no idea where she took her. She could be anywhere. Your guess is as good as mine. Now, get out of my way. I don't have time for amateurs," she said dismissively as she pushed the two of them aside and walked calmly passed them.

"Y—you're not going to kill us?" Ezekiel asked. Jake tossed him a silencing glare and Ezekiel shrugged in response.

Morgan smirked at him and tilted her head to the right. "Would you like me to? Because I could, you know, if you reall—"

"No, no. No need. Just checking," Ezekiel said in a rush.

"If you hurt her," Jake sneered at the Sorceress. "I swear to God—"

"You'll what, exactly?" Morgan asked with a chuckle. "You can't kill me, you can't even touch me. You are weak. As for your little wannabe witch, you'd better hope you find her before I do. She's the only thing stopping me from getting what I want. And I always get what I want."

With that, Morgan le Fay turned on her heel and left them alone.

"Now what?" Ezekiel asked hopelessly. "How the hell are we going to track whatever the hell that thing—"

"That thing was Viviane."

"Yeah, okay, should I know who that is?"

"The Lady of the Lake, Jones. Viviane is the Lady of the Lake."

"Right, okay, so how do we track the Lady of the Lake through Ley Lines without Cassandra? I don't know about you but I can't view multi-dimensional maps in my head like a certain synesthete we know and love."

"We need Flynn. He and Jenkins could track her."

"One week as independent Librarians and we're already calling mommy and daddy," Ezekiel said sarcastically. "We're off to a great start."

"Come on, we don't have much time," Jake said hurriedly. "Call Jenkins, find out where we need to meet The Door."

"What are you gonna do?" Ezekiel asked as they left the temple and headed back to where they left their car.

"Research," he said darkly. "Figure out how to separate Cassandra from the Lady of the Lake."

"That's the first time I've ever heard the word research spoken like a death threat," Ezekiel told him. "You're downright scary sometimes, you know that?"

* * *

"What do you mean she took Cassandra?" Flynn asked nearly an hour later when Ezekiel and Jake finally made it to The Annex.

"We mean, the Lady of the Lake parked herself in Cassandra's body and then vanished," Jake said angrily.

Jenkins ran a hand across his forehead. "She had no other options, Mr. Stone."

"Yeah, neither did Cassandra," Ezekiel said with a glare.

"Think about what she saw in Cassandra, though. Should Morgan le Fay get a hold of her, Viviane would surely die. Just because she's a being of pure magic doesn't mean she can't die. She was desperate to live. Who else do we know that is desperate to live?" Jenkins asked them all pointedly.

"She picked Cassandra because she related to her," Eve said with a slow nod. "She saw something in her that she thought was strong."

"The desire to live," Flynn agreed.

"Yeah, well, while the Lady of the Lake lives Cassandra's trapped in her own mind," Jake said with a tense jaw. She's terrified of her own mind, was the sentence he didn't say. But it hung in the air anyway. They all knew it was true.

"Jenkins, let's get to work on tracing those Ley Lines," Flynn said as he grabbed Cassandra's cup of yellow markers off the main table and the satellite maps she'd been working with before they left. Jake swallowed thickly and wished she were here with them. The chair she normally sat in while she read or wrote in her notebook was empty but he could picture her sitting in it. Smiling to herself as she worked out yet another brilliant thing he didn't understand.

"Stone," Flynn said sympathetically. "Thumb through every Arthurian resource book we have. We need everything we have on Viviane."

"Already on it," Jake said as he held up the very old and thick book he held in his hands. We're coming, Cassie, he thought to himself as he thumbed through the index for any reference to the Lady of the Lake.


	2. Episode 01, Act 02

**Episode One: ...And Morgan le Fay's Return**

* * *

_Act Two: Reinforcements_

* * *

_It was nearly three in the morning when he finally returned from Paris. He'd gone to each and every place Mabel had a post card for. It had been emotional but in a good way. In an enlightening way. She'd lived a lot of years but done very little of what she'd wanted to do. He wondered if she would have preferred a short life with a wide range of experiences instead and immediately knew the answer._

_He closed the Back Door and turned to find Cassandra in her usual spot at the table, scribbling in her notebook with her red hair surrounding her like a silky curtain. He smiled softly at her. She was waiting on him. She didn't normally stay up this late. He cleared his throat and she turned eagerly._

_"Oh, hi! How was Paris?" she asked._

_He furrowed his brow at her. He'd never told her where he was going. "How did you know that I—"_

_"It's where she wanted to go. It seemed like the only place you could possibly be. Did it help?" she asked worriedly._

_He smiled sadly at her. "Yeah, it did. A little bit."_

_"Good," she said as she visibly relaxed. An awkward silence filled the space between them and Jake took the moment to take off his coat and gloves. He turned to hang his coat on the rack when she spoke softly. "I'm sorry."_

_He hung up his coat and then turned back around to face her. "For what?"_

_"I should have seen it," she told him. "I should have seen the math before—before we got everyone's hopes up. Or…or I should have figured out a way to make it work. There must have been a way to ground it or something that I could have done to hold the system together long enough to—"_

_"No, Cassandra. Don't do that to yourself. This isn't your fault. This isn't anyone's fault."_

_"I'm the one that did the math. If I would have just factored in a possible surge from the beginning—"_

_"Cassie," he said sternly as he sat down next to her. "No one blames you. You know that, right? The timing just wasn't right for it. The circumstances were against us."_

_"But I—you trusted me to get it right. To help those people. It was so important to you and I let you down," she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper._

_That's what this was about. He should have known this would come up after the look she'd given him in the control room. But she couldn't think that he would resent her for something she couldn't control. Could she?_

_He shook his head at her and nudged her leg with his foot to get her to look up at him. "You didn't let me down. Not by a long shot. You had my back out there. You believed that we could help them and you genuinely wanted to. You understood why I wanted to help so badly. I could tell you did."_

_She bit her bottom lip and wordlessly nodded. He'd figure out what she'd pieced together about him later. He'd worked so hard to keep her at arm's length. He focused so much on what he wasn't saying to her that he never thought about what his actions may have expressed when he wasn't trying._

_"And, the most important thing, Cassandra, you damn near succeeded. Not even Tesla himself got as close as you did to saving those people. You like to look at the glass half full, don't you? Well, that's the glass half full," He told her. He hesitated before he continued but decided it was time. It was time to trust his instincts. "And you know, I think you and I are gonna be stronger friends for it."_

_She smiled brightly at him. "Friends? We're friends? You mean it?"_

_He smiled at her in return. He couldn't help it. Her smile was contagious. "Yes, I do. It took me a while to come around, but after today…I think you deserve to be trusted. I think you've always deserved to be trusted."_

_He thought her smile was bright before…boy, was he wrong. Her smile brightened about tenfold after that last sentence and he felt something in him clench._

* * *

His shoulder shook and Jake awoke with a start. He glanced down at the books spread out around him and then cursed, "shit." He looked to his left and found Baird standing over him. "How long have I been out?"

"About half an hour," she answered.

"Why didn't you wake me? There's no time to—"

"You said her name, Stone," Eve interrupted him. He blinked at her and swallowed thickly.

"What?"

"Just now, when you were asleep, you said her name. Is there something you need to get off your chest, Jacob?" she asked in concern.

"No, no. It was just a dream. Or, well, more like a memory I guess," he said as he ran a hand through his hair and searched for the notepad he'd been taking notes on.

"Stone, it's okay if you care about her, you know," Eve told him. She glanced to where Flynn and Jenkins were you arguing over the Ley Lines. "If it were Flynn who had the-" she paused and discretely tapped her temple. "-you know, it wouldn't stop me. I would be scared to death, sure, but it would be worth it. Whatever time was left would be worth it."

"I really can't think about that right now, Baird," Jake told her. "I can't. Right now, I need all of my energy focused on finding her before Morgan le Fay because this discussion we're having is completely moot unless we find her and save her." He closed his eyes and sighed. "We have to find her. You should have seen her. White fire in her eyes and floating in the middle of the room and the one moment she broke through to take control…she spent apologizing. She could have said anything, but she apologized. Why the hell did she think she needed to apologize? It's not like she gave permission to be worn like a suit—"

He paused mid-sentence and then groaned as if her were in pain.

"What?" Baird asked.

"Unless," he said as he remembered the tears in her eyes as she apologize to him. "Unless that's exactly what she did. Dammit, Cassie. What the hell were you thinking?"

"She was thinking about saving a life, Stone," Eve told him. "You know her. She'd do anything to save a life."

"I know," he agreed. "She thinks that tumor makes her life less valuable somehow, and it scares the hell out of me."

"JENKINS, I COULD KISS YOU! You genius!" Flynn suddenly exclaimed as he grabbed Jenkins and kissed both of his cheeks. Jenkins shoved him away and brushed off the lapels of his jacket.

"Would you, please, restrain yourself. My god. I work with Neanderthals. Indiscrete Neanderthals," Jenkins said with a glare and a huff.

"What is it?" Ezekiel asked as he came running down the stairs. "Did you find her?"

"Yes!" Flynn said excitedly. "And you will never believe where Viviane took her."

He grinned at the rest of them for a long moment as they waited for him to continue. But he didn't.

"Okay," Eve said with an expectant look. "Do you plan on sharing this location with the rest of the class?"

"Oh! Right, sorry. Excalibur's Stone."

"What?" Jake asked in shock. "You're telling me that of all the places Cassandra could have ended up—"

"She's at the place that started it all, yes. That's what I'm telling you."

Baird turned an amused yet suspicious look on Jenkins. "These sort of coincidences just seem to happen around you, don't they?"

"I have no idea what you're referring to," Jenkins said as he looked away from her. "This time, you'll have a quicker way in. I can simply set the door for Cassandra's location. I'm not sure what door you'll go through but you won't have to sneak in to Buckingham Palace again, there's that at least."

"Stone, what have you learned about Viviane?" Flynn asked.

"Not much, to be honest. The stories are all conflicting and she has about nine different names over time. None of the stories make her sound very stable, though. Did you know she trapped Merlin in a tree like some crazy stalker?" Jake told them as he shook his head. "Not sure this is the mythological person we want living in Cassie's head."

"The names you've found are the names of her hosts through the years," Jenkins offered. "She used to prefer water nymphs, that's how she became known as The Lady of Lake. Some of them couldn't take the amount of magic flowing through them. It did push Viviane to insanity more than once over the years."

Stone gave Jenkins a curious look. If it wasn't for the fact that Flynn needed Jenkins expertise on calculating the flow of the Ley Lines he would have wondered why Jenkins didn't do the Arthurian research. Then again, given who he really was he probably didn't need to actually do any research.

"The host thing is what worries me," Baird said with a furrowed brow.

"She wouldn't pick Cassie to be her host, though. Not with the brain grape. I mean if I were going to pick a host I'd pick one who didn't have any life threatening illnesses," Ezekiel said thoughtfully.

Jenkins shook his head. "Viviane is a being composed entirely of raw magic. Physical afflictions wouldn't bother her."

Flynn gave Jenkins a sidelong glance and his eyes widened. He pressed his lips together and looked as if he was contemplating saying something before he shook his head and remained silent.

"Are we ready?" Jenkins asked as he spun the globe and found the location they needed.

Jake rubbed the back of his neck nervously and tried to shrug off the feeling of dread in his stomach. "As we'll ever be," he replied.

"Good luck," Jenkins told them. "Do bring Ms. Cillian back in one piece. She makes having all of you here nearly bearable."

Jake gave Jenkins a half smile and nodded. That was probably the nicest thing they would ever hear Jenkins say.

They opened the doors and rushed through into a blinding light. Jake and Ezekiel recognized it right away. They were in the right place for sure.


	3. Episode 01, Act 03

**Episode One: ...And Morgan le Fay's Return**

* * *

_Act Three: Choices_

* * *

_She scrunched her nose up as she examined the multi-dimensional map floating in front of her. The map was out of focus, though. She couldn't tell if it was the brain grape, her own lack of focus, or if the Ley Lines were simply vibrating. That happened sometimes. It amazed her that magic was a moving and flowing thing, like a river or a stream. She swiped her hand across the map and rotated it. Maybe it was her angle and not the lines that were out of focus._

_Suddenly a notebook was slammed down on the table in front of her. Her focus shifted and the map vanished. Her shoulders sagged and she turned to her intruder with a glare. She knew who it was before she saw him. She smelled summer._

_"Jake! I almost had it figured out!"_

_"What is this?" He asked as placed a hand on top of the notebook he'd thrown down onto the table._

_"Well, for starters, it's mine," she said as she spotted the flower stickers on the front of it. "And private,"_

_"Not my fault someone slipped it into my pile of art portfolios," he said with a shrug as he maintained his stern glare. "Tell me you're not doing this."_

_She looked away from him with a guilty expression. "Flynn said raw magic could heal me so I didn't see the harm in using my days off to try and track some do—"_

_"Cassie, you're gonna get yourself killed," he said with a tired sigh._

_She chuckled bitterly. "I'm dead anyway. What does it matter?"_

_Jake froze and he looked as though she'd knocked the wind out of him. He removed his hand from the notebook and then took her hand in his. "It matters, Cassie. It absolutely matters. But this isn't the way."_

_"So, I'm just supposed to wait for a cure to find me then? Is that it?" She asked tersely. She tried to pull her hand out of his but he held it tighter._

_"No," he said in a soft, firm tone. "That's not what I—I didn't mean—" He stopped and huffed as he took a moment to search for his words. "Jesus, Cass," he said as he ran his free hand across his brow. She'd seen him flustered before but this was different. He met her eyes after a moment and finally continued. "You're not alone anymore. How do I get you to understand that you…you don't have to do this by yourself. Not anymore. You need someone to watch your back. So just—just take someone with you next time." He took a deep breath as if he were relieved to get that off of his chest and squeezed her hand gently before he spoke again. "Okay?"_

_She bit her bottom lip to keep from grinning at him. He was completely adorable when he fumbled over his words. Or when he was trying to protect her. Or just being there for her. Or pretty much just existing. Oh god, she had it bad. Really bad. But how could she not? He was far too caring for his own good, and for some reason he'd chosen to care about her. It amazed her every day. "Okay," she replied as she squeezed his hand in return and smiled shyly at him._

_He didn't let go of her hand or walk away. He looked her in the eyes and shook his head. "You scare the hell out of me sometimes, you know that?"_

_Well, now she felt guilty. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she looked away from him._

_"Don't apologize," he said as he bent his head down to force her to look at him again. He smiled softly at her. "Just do me a favor and try not to get yourself killed."_

_She chuckled and nodded. "I will do my best."_

_He hesitantly released her hand and crossed his arms over his chest with an easy smile. "That's all I ask."_

_She beamed back at him and breathed in the scent of summer._

_And oranges._

_And she felt…safe._

* * *

Cassandra took a deep gasping breath as she finally realized she had control of herself again. She glanced around the room frantically. Look for clues, do the math, alert the others. She could do this. She glanced around the room and realized it wasn't a room at all. It was a cavern. A very familiar looking cavern.

She turned and gasped. The Stone. The stone where Excalibur died. Why had Viviane brought her here? The good thing was, she knew where she was. The bad thing was, she was underground and had no cell signal.

Suddenly her vision went white and her head felt as if it were going to split in two. When she could see again she took in a sharp breath. There was a glowing glittery shape floating in front of her. Like stars in a galaxy, it was both cloudy and sparkly. It was beautiful. The stars took a vaguely feminine shape and Cassandra found she could just make out facial features.

"You left my friends behind," Cassandra said worriedly. "With Morgan le Fay. She was threatening to kill them and you just—how do you know they're not dead? How do you…"

"Morgan knows better than to disobey one of my orders." The voice that spoke sounded like two voices in one, simultaneously low and high, bright and dark. It was like nothing she'd ever heard before.

"What do you want with me?"

"To help you, my dear. I believe we can help each other," she said in a comforting voice. "You and I have the same need."

"And what is that?" Cassie asked with a furrowed brow.

"We need to live on. To ensure a legacy," Viviane said simply. "I have already begun to mend you just by being in your mind for a few moments."

Cassandra froze and stared at the being. "You—you can heal me?"

"My dear, I am a creature of pure raw magic. I can do whatever I wish. After all, I created the sword that could have healed you. Of course, I can fix you," she said with a chuckle.

A conversation she'd had with Jenkins came back to Cassandra in that moment and she stared at Viviane warily. "All magic has a—"

"—Cost, yes, this is true. Galeas taught you well. Most have no thought of the cost. They only care about their own wants and needs. But not you. Never you, you precious child."

Was that affection in her voice? It was hard to tell.

"So, what is it? What's the cost?" Cassandra asked nervously.

"You remain exactly as you are," she said casually.

"But I thought you wanted to heal me?"

"You will be healed. Of the tumor," Viviane explained. "But not your visions, or headaches, or seizures. Your life remains exactly as it is now, except you'll have a chance at reaching old age. Of planning your future. Surely, you can see the merit in that exchange."

"But you want something in return, don't you? It's not just about the cost of the magic itself. There's a cost for you to provide it to me," Cassandra said knowingly. She learned a long time ago that anything that sounded too good to be true probably was.

"I am dying. I have survived for thousands of years in my non-corporeal form, but this form is growing thinner every day. I need to pass on my power and my title before I waste away and Morgan le Fay absorbs what's left," she said urgently.

Cassie's brow furrowed. "But I thought the point of this was to keep you alive? You needed my consent to…to…use me. Wasn't all of this so you could live?"

"No, dear, my death is certain. I cannot escape it. But my legacy can. My powers, my title. And I can control it. I can choose who receives it. If I don't, then what's left can be taken. Morgan hoped to catch me before I could choose. She didn't know that the choice had already been made."

Cassie's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? We just stumbled across you this morning."

"You didn't stumble across me by any means. I brought you here. Though, I had hoped you would be alone. I didn't plan on your fellow Librarians being with you. I've been aware of you for a while now, Cassandra. You have very little experience with magic. But your potential is unlimited. I could sense it. You have a natural ability, however, to use my magic that natural ability will not be enough."

"Meaning?" Cassandra asked nervously.

"You'll have to learn to control it. It will be painful. It will be frustrating. It will be terrifying. It won't kill you, but until you learn to control it, it will hurt. And it may hurt others, however accidentally."

She scoffed. "Doesn't sound much different than my life now."

Viviane chuckled. Or she did something similar to a chuckle. Cassandra couldn't be clear on that. "I suppose not. There is one difference, though. Now, you carry a hope of a complete cure. You still believe there may come a day where you will not suffer nosebleeds and fainting spells or get lost in hallucinations. If you accept my magic, that day will never come. You will suffer with those things all your life. As time goes on you will be better prepared to handle them, but they will always be there."

Cassandra closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. Okay, that wasn't good news. To keep this magic from Morgan le Fay or, worse, The Serpent Brotherhood she would have to throw away the very dream that had kept her alive and kept her hoping most of her life. But, she'd diffuse the ticking time bomb growing in her brain. She could have the things other people dreamed about instead. She'd have more time, and you couldn't put a price on that. Especially considering who she could have more time with.

Cassandra took two deep breaths and then faced Viviane. "Yes, I'll do it."

"You're certain?" she asked. "You won't be able to take it back."

She nodded. "More time with my friends is worth headaches, hallucinations, and bloody noses. I'll do it. Besides, I'm a Librarian, saving the world from the potential misuse of magic is what we do."

Cassandra barely registered a loud noise from one of the chamber entrances but Viviane heard it. Her head whipped toward the direction it came from. "She's here. We must hurry. Thank you, Cassandra. You are a credit to the Tree of Knowledge and the Library. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she muttered just before her vision was flooded with white light.

The light cleared and Viviane was gone. But the room was far from empty. On one side of her stood Morgan le Fay with a look so murderous that Cassandra could feel her rage. On the other side of her were The Librarians and their Guardian. She smiled brightly at them. They came. They found her.

"I warned you," Morgan sneered. "I warned I would kill you if I had to."

Cassandra felt like she was vibrating. Like an electro-magnet or a capacitor. She could feel energy flowing just under her skin. Maybe that's why she said what she did next, "Go ahead and try."

Magic High. Yeah, she was totally blaming that one on a Magic High. Instead Morgan focused on her teammates.

"Who's neck shall I break first, darling?" Morgan asked sweetly. "I'm leaning toward the Cowboy. If only because you seem so fond of him." She lifted a hand and was poised to snap her fingers. Cassandra could see it now, magic. She could see it as colors. Like looking at a weather map, the colors seemed to indicate expertise. Though, what the color key was she had no idea. Morgan le Fay was covered in a black aura of magic. That couldn't be good.

"NO!" Cassandra yelled as she lifted an open hand at The Sorceress. Morgan gasped and her body slammed against the furthest wall. She slumped on the floor like a rag doll. She was out cold. They couldn't risk her coming to, though. Not here. She winced as her head throbbed in pain. She lifted her hand again and focused on where she wanted Morgan le Fay to end up. Far away from us, she thought as she swiped her hand to the side and Morgan vanished into thin air. She turned around to face her friends for the first time since they'd arrived and smiled brightly at them despite her headache.

"Hi guys!" she said as she felt something trickle from her nose. She lifted a hand to wipe it away and found blood on her fingertips. She smiled bitterly at the blood and the met Jake's gaze. "Nothing ever changes."

"Cassie?" He asked worriedly. Her headache finally got the best of her and left her feeling off balance and lightheaded. Her knees buckled, but as usual Stone was right there to catch her. She clutched his shoulders to try and hold herself up against him. He pulled back to look her in the eyes and she supposed he found what he was looking for because he held her tighter and buried his face in her hair. "Are you okay? What's happening, sweetheart?"

She winced and hid her face in his chest as the headache intensified. Her head felt like it was being squeezed by a vice. She could feel consciousness slipping away from her. She whimpered and whispered an answer as she went completely limp in his arms. He quickly adjusted so that he could lift her. He cradled her against his chest and then placed a quick kiss to her forehead.

He sighed and glanced up at the rest of the group.

"What did she say?" Flynn asked curiously.

"Magic," Jake answered as he walked past them and headed back toward the Door. "She said magic."


	4. Episode 01, Tag

**Episode One: ...And Morgan le Fay's Return**

* * *

_Tag: Different_

* * *

_He woke up to faint frantic mumbling coming from the bed next to his. Jenkins had only gotten them one hotel room in Lima. Thankfully, it had two beds. Cassie took one and he and Jones fought over the other. Jake won and Jones left in a huff. "With all the nightlife out there it's not like I would have actually used the bed anyway," he muttered on his way out of the room earlier that night. He insisted he'd let Jake win the coin toss. He didn't know how you could 'let' someone win something with fifty-fifty odds. So, Jones was off doing…whatever the hell he did when they weren't working which meant the mumbling could only be one person._

_Cassandra._

_Was she dreaming? He couldn't understand her. She suddenly cried out in pain and Jake was up like a shot. She'd rolled away from him and had her back facing him but he could still hear her mumbling. _

_He stepped closer to try and hear her better._

_"Inca. Sun god. Sun. Twenty three degrees axial tilt. Sol Sistere. Summer Solstice. Summer. Sunshine. Oranges. Orange Juice. Breakfast. There's trees and summer smells and stones. Stone—" her sentence cut off and she hissed painfully. She pulled her legs to her chest and he watched her coil up underneath the sheets._

_Now he was worried. He rushed around to the other side of the bed and knelt beside of her. "What's going on, darlin'? Clue me in here."_

_"Music, science and math. Numbers and colors and smells. I can't. There's too much—no way back. It hurts," she said with a sob. "No way back."_

_Music, music. He glanced around the room for something that would relate to music, but he didn't see anything. And then it hit him. He could hear the faint sounds of Peruvian Folk Music from the street below them. It was very faint but it was there. He followed the sound to the window that had been left cracked open He shut and locked the window and the silence filled the room. The only thing left to hear was Cassandra's sobbing. He came back to her bed and knelt beside her again. _

_"No way back," she repeated. "Water. The current carries me out. I can't breathe. I don't know—which way is up—I can't find it. Can't find it." She struggled to breathe and Jake felt every one of his muscles tense. He pulled the covers away and pried her arms away from her stomach so he could hold one of her hands and intertwine their fingers. He squeezed her hand with one of his and then used the other to tilt her face toward him. Her eyes were scared and wild as they searched his face without really focusing on him._

_If she needed a way back, he'd find her one. "You gotta find another memory, Cass. Any memory. Just pick one where you can breathe," he said desperately as her breathing continued to sound labored. "Come on, sweetheart, breathe."_

_"Stone," she said finally as her blue eyes focused on his. "Cool stone under my skin. New air. Fresh air. Soft breeze. It smells like summer and I see columns. Old columns. And there's a riddle. Dragons like riddles." Her breathing became less shallow and he felt his chest slowly start to unclench. "Fibonacci."_

_He smiled softly at her as he recognized the memory she chose. "Gesundheit."_

_"Gold honey. Bees. I start to drift away. I think I'm lost and then…Stone."_

_"Roman concrete, actually," he said with a teasing grin. The fear in her eyes is fading and he's thankful for that._

_"No," she responded with a shake of her head. "__Stone_."

_He realized then what she meant. She meant __him__. His stomach flipped and he could swear his heart stopped for a moment. He still had one hand wrapped tightly around hers and another cradling her face. She took a deep breath and her eyes never left his. "You pulled me back in. You __always__ pull me back in."_

_And now he felt like he couldn't breathe. What was happening? He asked himself as his chest tightened and his heart started beating too fast. He traced his thumb across her cheek and searched her eyes for any signs of pain. "You okay? You got me really worried here, Cass."_

_"I'm okay," she said weakly before she took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you, Jake."_

_"Don't mention it," he said softly as he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Just glad you came back." He reluctantly released her hand and began to stand up when her hand shot out and grasped his arm._

_"Wait, don't," she said in a panicked voice. "Could you…sit with me for a while? I don't know that I want to be alone right now."_

_Her hands were shaking and her voice was unsteady. She looked terrified at the idea of being left alone. The idea of him walking away nearly had her all riled up again. He smiled warmly at her and waved his free hand at her. "Shove over."_

_She beamed at him and slid to the other side of the bed. He sat down next to her and their shoulders brushed. She looped her arm through his and he felt her rest her head on his shoulder. _

_"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked after a moment._

_She shook her head against his shoulder and twisted her hands together. "I just want to sit for a moment and enjoy this."_

_Her quirked a brow at the top of her head and took one of her hands in his. She was squeezing her hands so tight that her knuckles were white. He laced his fingers through hers and then asked. "And what is 'this' exactly?"_

_She took a deep breath and then rested her other hand on top of their joined ones. "Peace. This feeling of…peace. I don't have that a lot."_

_"Me either, darln'. Me either."_

_Sadness swept through him. Sadness for her. For her life so far. For himself. For the utter lack of __time__ they had left. So much sadness that he found himself kissing the top of her head before he'd fully formed the thought to do so. He knew only one thing for sure when it came to Cassandra. He'd be there for her for as long as she needed him. No matter __how long__ that was._

* * *

The Annex had expanded months ago to include a crash room for the L.I.T.s, where they could sleep whenever they had a late night. They'd yet to really use it, until now. Jake awoke to find himself sleeping uncomfortably in a chair. He looked up to find Flynn standing over him as he sat in the armchair next to Cassandra's bed.

"Stone," Flynn said quietly. "You've been here all night. Go take a break. I'll sit with her. Did she wake up at all last night?"

He shook his head as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "I don't think so, but, well, I wasn't exactly awake the whole time." He searched Cassandra's face for any sign that she might wake up soon. He didn't know what he was looking for but he supposed he'd know it when he saw it. "Thanks, Flynn, but I don't think that I should—"

She hummed suddenly and turned on her side so that she was facing Jake. She sighed contentedly and whispered, "Summer. Oranges." Before she stilled again and went back to her sound sleep.

Jake grinned at her in amusement and then chuckled. "Breakfast. I get the hint, sweetheart." He looked back at Flynn and then stood and stretched. That was as good a sign as any. "Alright, I think I'll take you up on that break."

"Oh, so I tell you to and you refuse but she mumbles something about oranges and suddenly you're ready to go?" Flynn asked with a smirk. "Man, she has got you wrapped around her little finger."

He turned his head to stare at Flynn in surprise. "No, she doesn't."

Flynn gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't buying it, but he didn't argue. "Ezekiel picked up breakfast for everyone. It's in the lab."

"The lab? The lab where we once did an autopsy on a magically enhanced wolf? _That_ lab?" Jake asked with a furrowed brow.

Flynn made a rubbery face for a moment. "Maybe tell Eve to move it into the kitchen when you get out there."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Jake said with a shudder as he remembered pulling the girl out of that wolf. "Come and get me if—"

"Don't worry. You'll be the first one to know if she wakes up while you're gone," Flynn told him with a chuckle. "Go eat." Flynn waved a hand at him dismissively and Jake reluctantly left the room. What was happening to him? Seriously, what was it about Cassie that he couldn't seem to stay away from? What made him so drawn to her? From the very beginning he'd been the moth to her flame. Even when he tried to keep his distance he never seemed to be able to. She made the very idea of distance impossible for him to comprehend.

As Jake entered the main room Ezekiel ran past with a tray full of mugs.

"Finally came off of guard duty, I see," Ezekiel said as he sat the tray down.

Jake ignored him. "Man, what did you put the food in the lab for? You do remember the kind of stuff Jenkins does in there, right?"

Ezekiel smirked. "Hey, we won't be here as much from here on in. I gotta bug the old man when I can."

Jake rolled his eyes at the younger man. "When you're done pissin' off Jenkins move the food into the kitchen, okay?"

He nodded. "That was always the plan, mate. Hot chocolate?" Ezekiel pointed to the tray and offered him a mug.

"You made hot chocolate?" Jake asked with an amused grin and a quirked brow.

He shrugged. "Its Cassandra's favorite so I thought, you know, in case she wakes up sometime soon she might want some."

Jake nodded and gave the younger man a small smile. He and Jones had their differences and he hated to admit it, but he had gotten attached to the kid over the last several months. And no matter what they disagreed on they always had one thing in common…

They both cared about Cassie. Maybe they cared in different ways, but they both truly cared about her well-being.

"She'll like that," Jake agreed as he reached for a mug. "She nearly woke up just before I left."

"You think she's gonna be okay?" Ezekiel asked worriedly.

Jake nodded after a long moment and answered him with a soft grin. "I think so. She's proved herself to be stronger than we all thought before. Why should this time be any different?"

Jenkins walked through the room and looked thoroughly distracted. He'd been quiet since they'd returned with Cassandra last night. He acknowledged Jake and Ezekiel with a curt nod and then made his usual morning trek to his lab.

Ezekiel smirked at Jake and held up a single finger. "Wait for it."

There was a single beat and then…

"JONES! This is a lab not an all you can eat buffet!"

Ezekiel chuckled. "Music to my ears."

There were slow footsteps from the hall that led to the bedrooms. Jake and Ezekiel looked up to find Eve and Flynn leading Cassandra into the room. Both her arms were looped through Flynn's and Eve was watching the red head like a hawk for any signs she wasn't up for the walk. Jake was across the room in a split second.

"What are you doing up?" He asked as he approached. Flynn immediately handed Cassandra over to him and she gave both men a strange look as Jake looped her arm through his and led her to a chair.

"I'm fine," she said as she sat down.

"Are you hungry?" Eve asked. "I bet you're hungry. You know what, I'm gonna get you some food."

Cassandra opened her mouth to respond but Eve was already gone. "O—okay, sure. Thank you."

Ezekiel smirked after Baird as she left and then placed a mug of hot chocolate in Cassandra's hands. "How ya doin', kid?"

She grinned at him and chuckled. "You realize I'm older than you, don't you?"

"Nothing but a number, babe," Ezekiel said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes with a smile and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"You sure you're feeling okay?" Jake asked.

She looked around at all the people standing over her as she sat and then back at Jake with a warm smile. "I'm fine, really. Just a bit tired. You can all relax."

"You were kidnapped by a spirit of pure magic, Cassandra," Flynn said as he nudged her shoulder teasingly. "Relaxing is not in the cards."

"And you took out Morgan le Fay like a badass," Ezekiel added with a smirk. "Where'd you send her anyway?"

She pressed a hand to her temple and closed her eyes as she tried to remember. "I don't even know. I just…I remember wanting her far away from all of you." Her eyes drifted to Jake for a second before she looked back down at the mug in her hands.

"So, what happened, exactly?" Jake asked as he sat down in the chair next to hers.

She looked up at him and took a deep breath as she thought about what to say. "You know when Baird talks about crazy sentences she thought she'd never say?"

Jake gave her lopsided grin and nodded.

"Well, I'm about to say one I never thought _I'd_ say," she told him. "The Lady of the Lake died and gave me her magic."

The group blinked at her as Jenkins entered from the lab and Baird came in from the kitchen. Eve set down a plate in front of her and then took in the shocked faces around the room. "What did I miss?"

"The Lady of the Lake gave Cassandra all of her magic," Flynn said with a casual shrug.

Baird's eyes widened and when she spoke her voice was a full octave higher. "Oh, is that all?"

"No, that's not all," Cassandra said as she bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling too brightly.

Flynn gave her a knowing look and grinned. "Let me guess, having a being of raw magic bestow you with an insane amount of pure magic…healed the brain grape?"

Jenkins smiled slightly at Cassandra. "Of course, yet another reason Viviane was drawn to you. She knew she could save your life."

Jake held his breath and waited for Cassandra to confirm or deny Flynn and Jenkins's best guesses. They were intelligent men who knew much more about magic than he did, but he'd only get his hopes up if Cassandra did.

She smiled brightly and nodded at them. "I—I should probably get a CT Scan to be sure, but…yes I think so." There was a moment where they all smiled at each other in relief and joy before Cassandra continued. "But she…she said there would be a cost."

"Of course there is," Jenkins said with a sigh. "There's always a cost."

The entire room deflated and Ezekiel asked aloud what they were all thinking.

"What sort of cost?"

"Well, nothing I'm not already used to," she said as her hand drifted to her temple again. "Headaches, hallucinations, nosebleeds, seizures—"

Jake held back a sigh and shook his head at her. "Cassie, that's all the same things you were goin' through before. What's the point if nothing changes?"

She reached over and placed one of her hands on top of his clenched ones. He was more worried about her now than he had been before. Magic was unknown. A tumor was medical. He could rationalize that, but _magic…_

"But something has changed, Jake," she said with a bright smile. "A big _something_ has changed."

"And what's that?" He asked with a sigh as he looked down at their hands.

She gave his hands a comforting squeeze. "Time. I have _time_, Jake. A whole lifetime of it." He looked up at her then and met her gaze as she continued with a contented smile. "I can deal with everything else. I've been doing it my whole life. What I can't accept is giving up people I care about and a life I love. I don't have to do that now. That's the _only thing_ that matters."

She was right. He knew she was right. It was _the only thing_ that mattered. He returned her smile, albeit with a bit more trepidation than she had. The cost was worth it he knew, but he'd never enjoyed seeing her in pain and he always thought that one day they'd find a way and she'd be free of it all. But now—now she would deal with it for the rest of her life.

"Well," Eve said with a smile as she knocked a beat out on the table. "I say this calls for a celebration! Who's with me?"

There were cheers from Ezekiel and Flynn and Cassandra just beamed at them gratefully. These were her friends and family and she wouldn't want to celebrate this with anyone else. A searing pain shot through her head and she winced. She ran a hand across her forehead and took deep breaths. Jake heard her wince and immediately held her hands tighter.

"Cassandra," he said warily. "What's wrong?"

"No, it's fine. It's fine," she assured him as she closed her eyes. "Just a headache. It'll pass."

She gritted her teeth and squeezed Jake's hands for comfort. The lights in the room flickered and Jake's concerned gaze left Cassandra to glance around the room. No one else had noticed yet, except Jenkins. Jenkins was standing a few feet away from the two of them, watching them closely. The lights then surged brightly just moments before the light bulbs in the lamps at the end of the table exploded. Cassie gasped and then sighed in relief and sagged in her chair.

"Ow," she said in a whine before she gulped and looked down the table at the lamp. She bit her bottom lip and gave Jake a nervous look. "Did I do—Oh god, was that me?"

He grinned sheepishly at her and nodded. "I think so, darlin'."

She grimaced and then gave him an awkward apologetic look. "Oops?"

Well, this was gonna make things interesting, Jake thought to himself as he watched Jenkins begin to sweep up the broken light bulbs as if this were an every day occurrence.

But, he supposed, that was life as a Librarian.


	5. Episode 02, Cold Open

**Episode Two: The Librarians and the Phantom Village**

* * *

_Cold Open: The Appointment_

* * *

"Okay, this time," Eve said cautiously. "Just try _moving_ the book to the table."

Cassandra nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay, simple enough." She held out her hand with her palm facing the pile of books on the floor beside of Eve's desk.

Jake and Ezekiel backed away slightly as they'd both dodged various objects already. Ezekiel took a huge bite out of the apple in his hand as he watched. That same apple had nearly hit him upside the head earlier.

The book began to levitate as Cassandra focused her gaze on it and it moved very slowly toward the table. Jake's eyes widened hopefully as the book moved closer and closer. And then…

Cassandra swayed slightly like she was losing her balance. Almost instinctively, Jake felt himself watching her instead of the book and edging closer to her. Just in case. He was glad he did too because moments later, just as the book reached the table, her knees buckled and her eyes rolled back into her head. He took two steps and easily caught her by the waist. The book dropped from it's position two feet above the table and landed with a loud thud.

"Cassie," Jake said worriedly. "You still with us, sweetheart?"

She whined softly and nodded her head with her eyes still closed. "Did I do it?"

"Yeah, kid, you did good," Jake told her as he sighed in relief. When he was certain she could stand on her own he reluctantly released her waist.

She massaged her temples and sighed. "It's not having the power that's the struggle. It's…harnessing it. Like I'm not in control of how much force I'm using."

"And that's why you need to practice, Ms. Cillian," Jenkins said with a nod. "Also, a little reading might help." He set a tall stack of books down on the table. "These are all the books The Library has on how the human body processes magic."

Eve's brow furrowed. "Somebody wrote books about that?"

"A long time ago, yes. Which is why they're all in Latin," Jenkins told her with an eager grin.

Cassandra had looked excited about the books but upon hearing that she deflated. "My knowledge of Latin is strictly limited to what I need for math and science."

"You might be surprised what you can do," Flynn told her with a smirk as he entered the room. He picked up one of the book and placed it in her hand. "Go ahead. Try it."

She gave him a confused look but did as he asked. When she glanced at the page she could see the letters translating themselves. Her eyebrows rose and she gasped. "Oh my God! I can read it! I can read _Latin_!"

"Ow! What the hell was that?"

Everyone turned to look at Ezekiel curiously at the sound of his shout.

"What?" Jake snapped.

Ezekiel rubbed the top of his head. "Did somebody throw a book at me?"

All eyes drifted toward Cassandra and she glared back at them. "Oh, come on! That was one time! _One time_ I sent something flying across the room."

Jake gave her a knowing look and grinned in amusement. "So, that cup of pens that I dodged…"

"Okay fine, _twice_. I've done that _twice_. But still, that time wasn't me! I was over here, reading Latin. Which I can do now," she said as her glare turned into an excited grin. "Because, you know, _magic_. Which is _so cool_ by the way!"

Jake smiled at her as he watched her return her focus to the book and then turned back to Jones. "Maybe it fell."

He gave Jake a bored look and then waved his arms at the clear open space around him. "Off of _what_?"

Suddenly a small book lifted off the floor and slapped Ezekiel across the face. He stared at the thin book in shock as it floated in front of him before he finally tried to grab it. The book weaved away from him and then flew at Jake. Jake ducked and then immediately reached out and caught the book by the spine.

"See!" Ezekiel yelled. "I wasn't imagining it! What is it?"

Jake glanced at the front of the small thin book and then held it up for the room to see. "It's the Appointment Book."

"It looks like The Librarians have unfinished business," Jenkins said as he glanced at each of the people gathered in the room. They knew from experience that the things that ended up in the appointment book were difficult and tricky.

"Finally, an adventure!" Ezekiel exclaimed as he rushed over to Jake. "Helping Sabrina the Teenage Witch, here, was getting a little stale."

Cassandra rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder. "You are not making that a thing."

"Yeah, because Math Girl and Brain Grape never stuck around," he told her with a cheeky sarcastic grin.


	6. Episode 02, Act 01

**Episode Two: ...And the Phantom Village**

* * *

_Act One: Coordinates_

* * *

The pages started to glow and the book flew out of Jake's hand before it spun in a circle and then dropped onto the table. Cassandra looked up from reading Latin and came to stand next to Jake at the table.

"It opened to a specific page," Jake said as he picked up the book again. Cassandra peered over his shoulder at the book.

"Oh! It's coordinates!" she exclaimed. She squinted at the page and then glanced up at the ceiling. Jake watched her mumble equations and move her hands as if she was rotating something and then she said, "Germany! They lead to Germany! Thuringia and the Dillstadt Municipality to be exact! Or somewhere just outside of it. Not much at those coordinates actually." She turned to look at Jenkins. "Shouldn't there be something else written in it other than coordinates?"

"Typically, yes," he replied with a sigh. "But this particularly Librarian was never too concerned with the details. A lot like our own Mr. Jones, actually."

Ezekiel looked up at him and looked genuinely offended. "Hey! I'm a theif! I would include more details than _that_."

"Really?" Jake asked him. "_That's_ what offends you? Someone accusing you of not being _detail oriented_?"

"I memorize inventories and time security systems for a _living._ There's nothing more detailed than that," Ezekiel told him.

"We should check it out," Cassandra said immediately. "The only way we're going to get an idea of what this is, is to go to these coordinates."

The Clippings Book suddenly glowed and shook and all eyes turned to it as well.

Flynn pointed to the book. "Oh! Two adventures! This is perfect! Lima was not the job you all thought it would be, yes?"

"Lima wasn't a job at all," Ezekiel told him.

Cassandra nodded in agreement. "It was all an S.O.S. from Viviane." They gave her a questioning look and she tapped her temple. "Occasionally I dig up one of her memories in here."

"So," Flynn said brightly. "Now, you have yourselves a real mystery! An ambiguous appointment appears among us abruptly!"

"That was a lot of 'a' words," Eve said thoughtfully.

"Apparently alliteration attacks aimlessly—"

"Stop," Eve said sternly but the grin tugging at her lips completely betrayed her tone.

Flynn cleared his throat. "Right, sorry." He then motioned to his three young Librarians and ushered them toward the Back Door. "Jenkins, set the coordinates from the appointment book! These three will tackle the tryst—I _cannot stop_. I apologize. Eve and I will investigate the clippings."

Jenkins spun the globe and before they even realized it, the L.I.T.s were being shoved out the door into what should have been an empty pasture in the middle of Germany.

Instead they were skidding on cobblestones.

Cassandra's brow furrowed and she looked down at her feet. "This is all wrong." She spun around to look at the wooden guardhouse they'd emerged from and then the forest and river behind them before she turned back to the silhouette of the village at the end of the cobblestone street.

Jake crouched down to look at the stones. "Pitched cobblestone. _Old_ pitched cobblestone. We're talking _centuries_ old."

"That's not possible!" Cassandra said loudly.

Ezekiel shrugged. "Looks like your typical old village in the middle of no where to me. What's not possible about it?"

Cassandra's eyes lifted skyward and her hands flitted through images only she could see. "The most recent satellite maps I've studied indicate there should be _nothing_ here. It's an empty field. This village should _not_ be here. It can't exist. If it did satellites would have captured it!"

She raced ahead of the other two down the cobblestone street and toward the village on the horizon. Ezekiel and Jake exchanged confused glances before they followed after her. The minute the full village came into view Jake understood Cassandra's astonishment.

"There are at least four different generations of architecture styles here," he said as he reached out and stopped both Ezekiel and Cassandra.

"So? There's at least that many in London," Ezekiel said with a furrowed brow.

"Not like this. Not all intersected and piled on top of each other," he said with a shake of his head. "These buildings look like people from three separate time periods built them together and couldn't decide which way was best. It's…chaotic."

"See? I'm telling you. This is all wrong," Cassandra said with a shake of her head. They were standing just inside the huge stone walls that protected the village, observing the frenetic structure and Ezekiel gave a resigned nod. He had to admit, he'd never seen any town constructed like this.

And then a group of people came around the corner and things became so much more bizarre. Nearly every person in the group was dressed vastly different, and not just in color or in the type of garment, but in dated style.

"Edwardian, Victorian, Romantic, Georgian, and Elizabethan—" Jake rattled off as he counted the different clothing styles and eras displayed in front of them. "That's at least 400 years of cultural fashions."

Cassandra turned her head on him sharply and grinned. "You know fashion?"

Jake rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Its art people wear. I have an appreciation for it."

She smirked and nodded at him in response.

"Okay," Ezekiel admitted as he glanced around at their surroundings warily. "I'm starting to see your point. Where the hell are we?"

He ran toward the stone wall and found enough footholds to climb up and sit on the very top ledge. He craned his neck to look around the village as well as the German landscape that surrounded them. The village was tiny, but crowded which is why the buildings appeared to overlap. There were vegetable gardens here and there dug out of holes in the cobblestone streets and small alleys that there used to fence in nearly pathetic amounts of livestock. Outside of the village, which he could now see was on top of a very tall hill, was a dense forest. It surrounded the village. There was a small river that surrounded every side of the village but one and there was only one small cobblestone bridge to cross it. There was no other way around the river. The bridge was a few paces away from the Guardhouse the Back Door had attached itself to.

Their only access to this village was the Back Door. Sure they could escape over the bridge if they had to but where would they go after that? He stopped his train of thought and shook his head. Why was he jumping to escape routes already? They didn't even know why they were here. No reason for him to panic. He pulled out his phone and wondered if he could call Jenkins to see if he had any theories. But his phone had no signal. He held it up toward the sky but still there was nothing. They really were in the middle of nowhere.

"There's no sign of another nearby village or any civilization at all, really," Ezekiel called down to Cassandra and Jake. "And this village is tiny. Very poorly stocked on food too. Looks like if you live out here you're pretty much stranded."

"Another reason that there shouldn't even be a village here," Cassandra replied. "It doesn't make sense." She paused and then gave Ezekiel a worried glance. "Come down from there before you fall!"

He stood on top of the wall and grinned down at her. "I'm the world's greatest thief, Cassie. I'm not going to fall."

As if the Universe had heard him bragging, his foot suddenly slipped off the edge. Cassandra shouted and he barely caught the edge of the wall. He heard Stone's heavy footfalls as he rushed to the wall but Jones fingers slipped before Stone could reach him. The fall was long but not short enough that he had time to correct his landing. He was going to break something. This would hurt. He braced himself but the impact never came.

He looked down and found himself hovering two feet above the ground. Both Jake and Ezekiel turned to look at Cassandra immediately. Her arm was extended and her hand was outstretched with her palm facing up as she concentrated on holding Ezekiel up. There was a long moment where he just let himself hang there before he finally said, "Thanks, Cassie. You can put me down now."

She blinked and took deep breaths and they could see her willing the magic to let him go but nothing was happening. "I—I can't. I don't know how to—I'm trying but it's not working."

Jake gave Ezekiel a hesitant glance as if he didn't want to leave his side, just in case Cassandra's magic did something unstable, but eventually he left him for Cassandra.

"You can do it, darlin'. You know you can. You said yourself that's it not having the power that's the issue. Remember?" He said encouragingly.

Her breathing became labored as she struggled with the magic flowing through her. She wobbled and Jake nearly reached out to steady her but she caught herself and then straightened her shoulders. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply.

Ezekiel felt himself lowering to the ground and was particularly impressed when his feet _gently_ hit the grass. He felt the pressure around his chest loosen as the magic lifted and he breathed a sigh of relief. Cassandra opened her eyes slowly and lowered her hand to her side and turned to find Jake beaming at her. She couldn't help it, she beamed right back at him.

"I did it!" She yelled excitedly as she launched herself at Jake and hugged him excitedly. "He didn't go flying into space or the wall or something. And I didn't faint!"

"Yes," Ezekiel said with a worried expression. The thought that might happen had never occurred to him. He winced as he remembered Morgan le Fay being slammed into the cavern wall and falling limply to the ground. "And for that I am _very_ grateful."

Ezekiel watched his friends hug for longer than strictly necessary and rolled his eyes when Jake pulled away with a faint blush on his cheeks and a shy grin. If they thought they were fooling anyone they were severely mistaken.

"You did good, Cass," Jake told her with a soft smile.

He rolled his eyes again. "Oi! Can we back on the case?"

"Everybody alright out here?" A new voice yelled from across the cobblestone street. An American voice. They all looked up in surprise and Cassie and Jake immediately stepped out of their embrace. "We saw the little guy fall from inside the bakery. Thought he might have hurt himself."

"One of these things is not like the others," Ezekiel muttered to Jake as he joined him and Cassie. The man in front of him was dressed like an American gunslinger from the old west. Minus the guns. He was blonde and blue eyed with a dimpled smile. "I'm fine, mate," Ezekiel told him. "Caught myself and found my grip to climb down." Probably wouldn't be wise to reveal to a stranger that one of his friends saved him with magic.

He turned his dimpled smile on Cassandra and held out his hand to her. "Josiah, ma'am. Who might you be?"

Her eyes widened and she blushed as she accepted his hand. "Cassandra Cillian."

He kissed the back of her hand and then turned to Jake and Ezekiel. "And who are your friends?"

"Um, Ezekiel Jones and Jake Stone," she answered. She tried to ignore the stony look on Jake's face as she attempted not to blush when Josiah kept a hold of her hand. "We're the, uh, well—" she couldn't decide what to tell him so she went with the truth. Somehow it always worked out in the past. "We're The Librarians."

Josiah's face broke out into a huge smile and he all but jumped in excitement. "He said someone would be back for us! I didn't believe him, but I'm glad I was wrong! You all here to save us?" Before they could answer he dropped Cassandra's hand, looked over his shoulder, and yelled in German. Neither Ezekiel nor Cassandra understood a word of it and they both turned to look at Jake expectantly.

"He said, 'He sent them back for us. The Librarians are here.' His German's a little sloppy though," Jake said in a grumpy tone as he crossed his arms over his chest. Cassandra quirked a brow at him curiously.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just not sure I trust this guy. What's a freakin' cowboy from a John Ford movie doin' in the middle of Germany in a freaky village that shouldn't exist?" He asked in a whisper.

Ezekiel grinned and gave him a once over before he tapped his shoulder. "I don't know if you realize this, but you're a cowboy in the middle of Germany in a freaky village that shouldn't exist too."

Cassandra bit her bottom lip to keep from chuckling but a small soft giggle still managed to escape. She gave Jake and apologetic look when he turned his grumpy glare on her. "Well, he's got a point."

At the sound of Josiah's yell the villagers came out of their homes and shops and formed a crowd around the three Librarians.

"So, all of these people expect us to save them, yeah?" Ezekiel asked the other two quietly. They nodded and swallowed nervously. "Right, so, no pressure or anything."

"The real question is," Cassandra said with thoughtful pursed lips. "What are we supposed to save them _from_?"


	7. Episode 02, Act 02

**Episode Two: ...And the Phantom Village**

* * *

_Act Two: Germelshausen_

* * *

The villagers that had gathered around insisted on shaking their hands gratefully before they would leave. They had attempted to talk to them but none of them spoke English with the exception of Josiah. Jake had managed to talk to a few of them but it didn't seem that he had managed to glean much information from them. Finally they dispersed and the three Librarians regrouped.

"Did you learn anything?" Ezekiel asked Jake.

"Not much," he said with a sigh. "For people who are so grateful to see us they were sure tight lipped."

Ezekiel glanced around suspiciously. If they wanted their help why were they so closed off about it?

"All I've managed to learn is that none of them are from present day," Jake told them. "And that they seem to be trapped here."

Cassandra bit her bottom lip as she thought and then her gaze drifted over to Josiah. "Let me see what I can find out," she said.

Neither Jake nor Ezekiel had time to ask what she meant by that before she turned and walked away from them.

"Josiah!" She called brightly.

Jake huffed as Josiah turned to face her eagerly and gave her a charming smile.

"What can I do for you, Lady Librarian?" Josiah asked with a grin as he tipped his hat at her.

Cassandra blushed lightly and smiled at him in return. "What happened here? All we can find out is that you're all trapped but by what? How?"

"Well," He said with a grin as he held his arm out to her. "Why don't I give you the grand tour and we'll talk about it?"

"That would be wonderful!" Cassandra said excitedly. "Can my friends come?"

"Of course, you're all Librarians. We'll need all of you to get out of this quickly," Josiah told her.

Her brow furrowed as she waved Jake and Ezekiel over and then accepted Josiah's arm by linking her arm through his. "What do you mean by quickly?"

He gave her a concerned glance. "Did the previous Librarian not tell you anything?"

"He left shockingly few clues," Ezekiel told him. "Which, for the record, is nothing like me. I would have left rather large clues. Clever ones."

Cassandra and Jake rolled their eyes at him as Josiah continued.

"We only have until sundown to save the village," Josiah stated.

"What happens at sundown?" Jake asked worriedly.

"The village disappears from the earth for 100 years," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone that seemed more casual than it should have.

Cassie stopped midstride and forced him to stop with her. "_What_? Disappears?"

"Once every hundred years Germelshausen appears in this very spot and then disappears again as the sun goes down. We've all been living this way for several centuries now. Your last Librarian attempted to save us but he couldn't pin point the type of magic that trapped us here. He didn't know how to reverse it," Josiah told him. "He said he would send someone back for us, but I never really believed him. Nor did I think that he would send _three_ of you. We may actually stand a chance this time."

The three Librarians shared urgent looks. Cassandra immediately looked up to the sky to observe where the sun was in the sky and then down at the cobblestone roads and building shadows. Jake could _see_ her calculating the time of day in her head and then estimating what time the sun would go down. While she thought Josiah rattled off useless information about the town and it's history while Jake rolled his eyes. This job had an expiration date. There was no time for a history lesson, though he had to admit he was really eager to learn about the different styles of architecture and the way they seemed to intersect. It was a hodge-podge of period architecture. It should have looked like a cluttered mess, but…it was rather beautiful.

"Does anyone know why the village disappears?" Ezekiel asked as they turned another corner.

"Not that they've told me," Josiah answered. "All I've managed to learn is that they were cursed by a witch. I'm not sure why. They won't say much about the witch either. They're not exactly forthcoming this group."

"Yeah, we noticed," Jake grumbled. "That's a little strange, don't you think? How do they expect to get help if they won't tell anyone what actually happened? Some one here has to remember."

Out of the corner of his eye Ezekiel noticed a figure following them. It was small but stealthy and moved from dark shadow to dark shadow. He turned quickly and managed to catch the spy as they stepped into the light. He found a boy, no older than eleven with a pale tired face watching them all. No one else had noticed but him. The boy beckoned him over and then promptly took off in the opposite direction.

What choice did Ezekiel have but to follow him?

Jake was so focused and watching Cassandra and Josiah that he didn't notice Ezekiel disappear. She still had her arm looped through his and Josiah kept staring at her. Jake knew she was gorgeous but did the man have to admire her so openly?

"Oh, I'm certain they remember," Josiah said in answer to his question. "They just choose not to let me in on the secret. The rumor is that they burned a witch at the stake and she cursed them as she died, but I don't know how much truth there is to that."

Cassandra nodded thoughtfully. "In order to figure out how to undo it we would need to know more about how and why it happened. It takes longer to solve an equation if I don't have all the factors."

"Then," Josiah told her as they left the alley they'd been walking through and wandered into a small grassy courtyard. "I suppose I'll have to take the three of you to see the Elders. Maybe they'll be willing to tell The Librarians more than they were willing to tell me."

Jake wasn't a botanist but he was pretty sure some of the plants in this courtyard weren't native to this area any more. They looked very foreign to him. "So, how did a cowboy end up here?" Jake asked him.

Josiah chuckled. "I followed a woman. How else?"

Cassandra gave him a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"

"I was hired by this lady scientist to be her translator and muscle for, what I was told, was a research expedition. When we got here, it became a treasure hunting mission. See, she'd heard tales of this village and one of them said there was a store room of gold in here somewhere, which there isn't. Why anyone would think a village located out here would be that rich I will never understand. They got a little rough with the villagers, I turned on her team and they knocked me out and left me here," he admitted. "And that's the short version."

"That's terrible!" Cassandra exclaimed. "They just left you behind?"

"It was that or kill me," he told her. "I'm glad they picked this option. I'd prefer living here than being dead out there," he said as he motioned to the village walls.

Jake rolled his eyes at Josiah's tale of woe. He wasn't completely convinced it was the truth. Josiah just seemed…_too_ charming. Suddenly, Jake remembered something. A German folk story he'd read years ago after helping backstage with his high school's spring musical production. "Hang on, earlier you said Germelshausen."

"That's the village."

Cassandra gave Jake a questioning look. "What? What's going on? I know that look. You're remembering something."

"Germelshausen is part of German folklore. In 1860 Friedrich Gerstäcker wrote a story called Germelshausen. It was about an artist who fell in love with a young woman from a village called Germelshausen. The village sunk into the earth a long time ago, the story didn't say when exactly, and was only allowed to appear on a certain day once every century. The Artist is forced to leave the village just in time for it to vanish back into the earth, leaving him separated from his love forever," Jake said as he tried to quickly summarize the tale. "I read it in high school. It was, arguably, the basis for a musical that I helped build sets for—"

Cassandra gasped. "Brigadoon! Right? It was the basis for Brigadoon! Oh, I love that movie!"

Josiah's brow furrowed in confusion. "Brig o'doon? Isn't that a bridge in Scotland?"

"For a cowboy, you sure know a lot about the rest of the world," Jake said as he narrowed his gaze on Josiah.

Josiah tipped his hat at him in a cool tone. "So do you, brother. Way I see it, you and I are cut from the same cloth."

"We'll see about that," Jake said evenly. "Yes, it's the name of a bridge in Scotland—" Jake paused. "I thought the cobblestone outside looked familiar!"

"What?" Cassandra asked. She'd been distracted for a moment by the competitive tension that had risen between the two cowboys. "The cobblestone looked familiar? Doesn't cobblestone look the same pretty much every where?"

"No, there's different patterns in different locations," Jake told her. "Brig o'doon, has a very distinctive pattern. The legend is the pattern kept out witches. The pattern on the road outside matches the photos I've seen of Brig o'doon's cobblestone work exactly. The story about the witch may not be far off from the truth, Cassie."

"So," she said with a sigh and a nod. "We're definitely thinking dark magic, then? Great. That's always fun." She turned to Josiah with a decisive look. "We will definitely need to speak with these Elders you mentioned."

"Of course," he said with a nod. "I'll lead you and your two friend—" Josiah stopped mid sentence and looked around the courtyard. "You did have _two_ friends, right? I didn't imagine the third one. The one with the funny accent."

Jake cursed as he craned his neck to look for Ezekiel. "You'd think the kid would know better than to run off in the middle of a village that's going to disappear in a few hours."

"Four to be precise," Cassandra told him. "Sundown is in four hours."

"Great, and we're one man down," Jake said with a huff.

"I'll come back and look for him," Josiah offered when he saw the worried look on Cassandra's face. "I should really get the two of you to he elders so you can find out what happened here. You said the sooner you know the details the sooner you can start to work it out, right? So I should get you to the elders and then once you're there I'll come back and find your friend. He can't have gone far and given his accent and his wardrobe he shouldn't be hard to spot."

Cassandra gave Josiah a hesitant look. "You might be surprised. He's pretty sneaky."

"I promise I'll find him," Josiah said again. "And I keep my promises."

Cassandra sighed and then nodded hesitantly. "Okay. We don't really have the time to waste I guess."

"You know, Jones, Cass," Jake said with a small teasing grin. "He was probably distracted by something shiny. Or a girl."

Cassandra chuckled. "You're right. He's probably fine."

"Probably," Jake agreed with a forced smirk. He wasn't sure of that himself, honestly. Who really knew what Ezekiel was up to.

* * *

The boy led him further into the Village than Josiah had dared to. He'd followed him through twists and turns and through vacant dwellings and ruined store fronts until they reached the emptiest, and most likely furthest, corner of the village. The very last thing the boy did was climb down into a hole in the ground. Ezekiel stopped and peered down the wooden ladder into the hole. It was dark and it looked deep. It could be a trap.

He sighed and shrugged. He'd followed the kid this far and besides, it felt right, and his philosophy was always to do what _felt_ right. He climbed the ladder slowly and when he reached the bottom he realized he was in some sort of underground tunnel system. He saw a faint light further down the tunnels and walked toward it. As it got closer he saw the boy holding a lantern. The boy motioned for him to follow and then stepped through a doorway on the right.

When Ezekiel joined him in the room, he froze. The space looked and felt eerily familiar to him. There was a table with books and papers and manuscripts spread out all around and a hand drawn map of the town. It reminded him of Flynn's chaotic desk at The Annex.

"He left. For you," the boy said in broken English. "Der Bibliothekar. Left for you."

Ezekiel nodded to the boy and then stepped closer to the table. One look at the hand writing on the map and he knew who "Der Bibliothkar" was. The hand writing was the same as the handwriting in the Appointment Book.

"Well, Jenkins, I think I found those details you wanted," Ezekiel said with a smirk. He studied the information and found that he understood most of it. He expected to read notes like Cassandra's, Flynn's, or Jake's. With formulas, social theories, or even history and facts he didn't know. But that's not what he found. He found schematics and observations and even written times of when certain people entered certain buildings in town. He found notes regarding interviews with townspeople. This Librarian had even mapped out an emergency escape route, which clearly he had used.

Turns out, Jenkins was right. This Librarian _was _like him.

He leaned over the table and the boy brought over the lantern and set it down for him. Ezekiel thought about bringing Jake or Cassandra here, but he honestly didn't know if he'd be able to find his way back. There were notes here that The Librarian must have brought with him to the village. There were excerpts from a diary of a team that claimed to have been there. He read over the notes The Librarian had taken, which started with what that team had learned about the village itself.

His eyes widened as he read and then he continued down the page to read the story of their harrowing escape from the village known to them as Germelshausen. He cursed as he read and then quickly tore the page out of the old notebook. He would need this. His eyes drifted to the map again and he grabbed that too. They needed to get out of here. Now.

Or else Cassandra could be in some serious trouble.

He turned to the boy and suddenly wished Jake was here. Or that he'd had Jake teach him to speak German. He had a feeling he would need the boys help to get them all out of here in one piece.

* * *

Josiah led them to a building in the very center of village. It was made of cobblestones and had two floors. Josiah knocked on the door and it immediately opened. Cassandra moved to step through but Josiah stopped her. He reached down at the base of the doorway and pulled out a cobblestone at the very center of the doorway. He sat it on the ground next to the door and them flashed her a charming smile. "It was loose. Wouldn't want ya to trip, Lady Librarian." He then motioned for her to lead the way with a broad sweep of his arm.

Jake rolled his eyes and followed the two of them into the building. Cassandra wasn't _that_ klutzy. The guard by the door closed it behind them and he thought he heard the sound of a lock closing on the other side of it but he couldn't be sure. At the far end of the room sat three older gentlemen, all looking very grim.

"Who have you brought to us, Josiah?" the man in the middle asked with a blank expression. "This had better be worth our time."

"Yes," the one on the far right agreed as he leaned back in his chair. "The last two you've brought to us have been a bit of a disappointment."

"Not this time," Josiah said with a smirk. "This one's a witch."

Cassandra tensed and Jake stepped closer to her. He glared at Josiah and shook his head at him.

"Yeah, you and I are definitely not cut from the same cloth, hoss," Jake sneered as he slowly pulled Cassandra behind him.

"I saw her save one of her friends when he fell off the wall earlier," Josiah said as his sinister smile grew. "He was floating above the ground. I saw it with my own eyes. She's a _witch_."

Cassandra gulped and gripped Jake's arm nervously before she spoke. "You know, if I was going to be called something I think I'd prefer to be called sorceress. Witch just makes me sound so…evil."

"She can save us," Josiah assured them. "We can do it right this time. Release the curse."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jake said as he glared at the Elders and Josiah. They weren't even bothering to address them as if the presence of two additional people didn't concern them at all.

"You said if we found and burned a _real_ witch then we'd be free," Josiah said with a smirk. "The only problem was, no witch could get passed the bridge. The cobblestones kept them out and kept us from bringing them in. Well, here she is. She found her way _to us_. That's fate! The way I see it, we burn her and we can all stay on solid land for the rest of our lives."

Cassandra gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. The other still had a death grip on Jake's arm.

"Oh, _hell no_," Jake said angrily as he glanced around the room for possible escape routes. He had to get Cassandra out of here. Fast.

The three elders glanced at each other and finally the one of them who hadn't spoken sighed in resignation. "Fine, take them upstairs. If it doesn't work we'll be no worse off than we were before."

"Do we need the man, Josiah?" The one in the center asked as he pointed to Jake. "Does he possess magical abilities as well?"

"No," Josiah answered quickly. "But I'd keep him for insurance. The witch seems _attached_ to him." Josiah seemed to recognize the look on Jake's face because he smirked pointedly at him. "And don't bother escaping. You know that cobblestone you noticed on the bridge? The Brig o'doon pattern that kept witches out? This building is built with that same pattern. The fault in the idea of keeping witches out, Jake, is that it can also keep them _in_. Cassie's not getting out of here anytime soon. Not when she's got magic flowing through those pretty little veins of hers."

"The cobblestone," Cassandra said softly. "You removed one of the stones before I came in." She glared angrily at him. "It wasn't loose! You had to move the stone or else I couldn't have stepped inside this building!" She lifted her free hand with her palm up at Josiah and her eyes narrowed. Everybody kept telling her to practice her magic, well, now was as good at time as any.

The guards that had been standing by the door grabbed Jake from behind before he had a chance to fight them and then grabbed Cassandra before she'd managed to summon up any magic.

"Take them upstairs and lock the door," one of the Elders commanded. "Keep a guard posted in case they get any ideas to try and escape."

They tried to fight off the guards, but they were too strong and within moments they were locked in an empty stone walled room with one barred window.

Cassandra slid down against one of the walls until she was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. "I guess Ezekiel wasn't the one I should have been worried about, huh?"

"Guess not," Jake said through gritted teeth. He _knew_ Josiah couldn't be trusted, but he'd suspected himself of jealousy and pushed it aside. Truth be told, he still wasn't sure jealousy hadn't played a part in what he felt. In fact, on some level he knew it had, but the point was…his mistrust had been proven correct. Josiah was a self serving snake.

And a murderer, apparently.

"What do you think Josiah meant by 'this time'?" Cassandra asked. "He said they could get it right. _This time_."

"I don't know, sounds like to me, they've tried to burn people two times before this," Jake told her. "Maybe he was talking about that."

"Maybe," Cassie said thoughtfully. That didn't feel right though. Something about Jake's answer didn't fit. She sighed and put her head in her hands. "God, Jake, I'm sorry."

Jake looked over at her sharply from where he stood by the window and furrowed his brow at her in confusion. "For what? What could you possibly be apologizing for?"

"If I weren't here right now, you wouldn't be locked up in this room. You wouldn't have trusted Josiah and no one would be about to burn at the stake for being able to use magic," she told him with a sigh. "My magic did this to us. Maybe it's just as much of a curse as the brain grape. I mean, I can't control it, I can't use it when I need it, and when I do use it I come very close to hurting people! Plus, I can't seem to stay conscious afterward—"

"That's not true, earlier with Ezekiel you—"

"_One time_, that was one time! And that was mostly because you were there to talk to me through it. You won't always be there, Jake. No matter how much I want you to be. I need to be able to do it on my own and I—I can't," she said in a shrill tone. He crossed the room and sat down beside of her so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

"You can't expect to have full control right away, Cass. Nothing works like that. You know that," he told her as he reached over pulled a hand away from her face to hold in his. "It's like with your synesthesia. We had to practice with the memories, remember? After a while you were able to bring yourself back down to Earth without me, but we had to practice it first. There's no reason that can't happen with magic too. You just have to give it time and have faith in yourself. The rest of us do."

"I'm scared," she admitted. "What if I end up hurting someone instead of helping them? We don't even know what would happen if I happen to hallucinate while I'm trying to use magic. We don't how the synesthesia is going to react to it. It's unpredictable. I've hurt all of you enough already, I don't want to do it again."

"Sweetheart, the only person still harpin' on your slip up with the Serpent Brotherhood these days is you. No one blames you for that. Not anymore," he told her. "Not even me. If we've forgiven you for it, shouldn't you forgive yourself? Hell, you saved Flynn's life with Excalibur. You've done so many other things that more than make up for that one misstep. Even deciding to take that magic from Viviane was a selfless thing. You knew it would cause you pain for the rest of your life and yet you still accepted it. You knew the alternative was too dangerous. You gave up hope of a perfect and complete cure to keep this magic out of le Fay's hands. You don't need to keep torturin' yourself over something that's over and done with. Besides, you're not going to hurt us with your magic. Not seriously, at least," he said as he squeezed her hand and winked at her playfully. "I may take a few cup-fulls of pens to the head but if it helps you then it's worth it."

"One of these days," Cassandra said as she placed her head on his shoulder. "I need to help you with something as much as you've helped me. It's not fair, really. Not to you, at least."

"Right now, I'd settle for helpin' me get us out of here," he said with a sigh. "Ezekiel's still out there somewhere. If we had cell signal in this damn place I could try to call him," Jake said as he pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket. "But we don't. So I can't."

"Even if we get out of this room we'd have to get past the guards, the Elders, and the cobblestone doorway," she reminded him. "And at this point," she said as she glanced at the clock on Jake's phone. "We have 3 hours until we disappear with the village. You know, unless they kill me first."

She'd said it lightly, as a joke, but Jake had felt it in his bones. She was in real danger. If they didn't get out of here these people would kill her. She'd just gotten her life back. She couldn't lose it again. He wouldn't let her die. He couldn't.

He was at a complete loss as to _how_ he was going to do that, though. She was right, they had a lot to get passed in order to escape and it would be impossible to do from inside this room.

They needed Ezekiel.

"Where the hell are you, Jones?" Jake muttered under his breath.


	8. Episode 02, Act 03

**Episode Two: ...And the Phantom Village**

* * *

_Act Three: The Escape_

* * *

Ezekiel managed to sign to the boy that he needed to get out of the tunnels. They made it to the surface and Ezekiel made his way back to the courtyard with the notes and the map. He heard voices in the courtyard and he was about to step out into the light when the boy yanked on his arm and pulled him back. Ezekiel gave him a strange look but then he recognized the voice.

Josiah.

"You lot head out to that guardhouse. We've got two of 'em locked up but there's still another on the loose. They came from that guardhouse and I'm willin' to bet that's where he'll head next," Josiah said in English. He paused and then started speaking German. Ezekiel assumed he was repeating himself.

Two of 'em locked up, he said. Jake and Cassandra. They had Jake and Cassandra. And they knew where the Back Door was. They wouldn't be able to get in, but they could keep the three of them out. Ezekiel needed a plan. He needed back up.

He needed Jenkins.

He signaled to the boy to follow him and then they both slid further into the shadows. They carefully ran from shadow to shadow until they reached the town wall. They waited for coast to clear before the exited the walls and headed for the guardhouse. There were three men surrounding the guardhouse. What he would give for Colonel Baird to be here right now. Three men stood between him and reinforcements. Before he could stop him the boy noisily ducked into the brush several feet behind him. Ezekiel's brow furrowed. The kid was stealthier than that. Why would he…

The three men turned their attention the brush and when it moved again they ran toward it. Something flew out of the bush toward the village walls and then men followed the sound.

And left the guardhouse unprotected.

He'd drawn them away and caused a distraction. Smart kid.

He'd have to find a way to thank him. Ezekiel quickly ran into the guardhouse and shut the door behind him. The door slammed shut and Jenkins jumped and turned to him with a glare.

"There is no need to slam the door, Mr. Jones—"

"Cassandra and Jake have been captured by witch hunters!" He yelled frantically. He hadn't meant to sound frantic. It just happened. He was never frantic. He was never attached to anyone enough to be frantic. What had this job done to him?

"_What?"_ Jenkins asked in shock.

"Yeah, those coordinates were home to a freaky cursed village that is only on earth once every hundred years and is full of crazy witch hunters who most likely think they can save themselves by burning Cassie at the stake," Ezekiel said in a rush. "Also, they know where the door is so we need to move it as soon as gorram possible."

"Yes, because it's just that simple to move a magical teleporting door around a cursed village in the German countryside," Jenkins said dryly.

"Right, so get on it, man!" Ezekiel yelled.

Jenkins rolled his eyes at him and huffed. "Do you have a representation of the village? Something I can use to calculate a location?"

Ezekiel suddenly remembered the rolled up map in his hand and thrust it at Jenkins. "Would a map of the village hand drawn by the old Librarian do?"

The old man's eyes widened and he nodded. "Yes, that would do quite nicely." He took the map from Ezekiel's hands and unfolded it on the table to study it. "This may take a few moments."

"We don't have a few moments. If we don't get them out before sundown they'll be trapped too and then you'll be down to two Librarians."

"Well, we certainly don't want you to be the only back up to Mr. Carsen now, do we?" Jenkins said with a smirk. "Have patience, Mr. Jones."

He sighed. "That would be a lot easier if a poor attempt at a Jake imposter didn't have my coworkers held captive somewhere."

"This is a very delicate calculation. It may take a little time," Jenkins grumbled. "Science cannot be rushed."

"Yeah, well, you'd better figure out how to rush it, mate," Ezekiel said as he leaned against the wall next to the back door. "We're on a bit of an urgent time table here."

* * *

After about half an hour of sitting and wallowing Cassandra pushed off of the floor and walked over to the small barred window on the other side of the room. It glanced out over a town square where she could see people gathered. She squinted to focus on the square below them and then gasped sharply.

They were building a pyre.

Oh god, they were building a pyre. She had to get the hell out of here. The villagers were almost done. They'd be done in an hour, maybe an hour and a half if she were lucky. She heard shuffling behind her and knew Jake had come to see what had startled her. She stepped away from the window and stared thoughtfully at the stonewall they'd been leaning against. They needed a plan. They needed a way out. They couldn't wait on Jones. They didn't have time to wait on anyone.

Jake slammed a fist against the cobblestone window frame and then winced. Her head whipped in his direction and she was by his side in a flash.

"Jake, that's not helping," she told him as she worriedly examined his knuckles.

"I didn't think it would, Cass. I just needed to…" His sentence trailed off as he kept his eyes on the pyre out the window. "It made me feel a little better."

She gently traced a thumb over his scraped knuckles and then released his hand. "We have two options," she told him. "Door or window."

"That window is barred with iron. Heavy iron," Jake told her he stared at his injured hand. "I doubt we can break one of them without something for leverage. Plus, the cobblestone around the window has the same pattern as the bridge and the doorway downstairs."

"There's a loose stone in the doorway," she said thoughtfully as she bit her bottom lip. "If you go first you could remove it and I could get out."

"We'd have to get through the locked door, down the stairs, and passed the Elders first," he reminded her. Jake looked up but tried to focus on the wall passed Cassandra. He tilted his head slightly though when he noticed something. They were words carved into one of the stones. But they weren't in German. "Cassie," he said as he nodded to the wall behind her. "Look at the stone in the middle of the wall."

She turned and stepped closer to the wall. She squinted until she spotted something. Letters.

"HIC IACET," she read aloud. She blinked at the wall and the letters translated themselves just as they had in that book she'd been reading earlier. "It's Latin."

"Of course," Jake said as he shook his head at himself. He should have recognized it but he'd been focused on German. "It says 'Here lies.' Like a gravestone."

"Why would that be carved into the wall?" Cassandra asked. "Is it a morbid goodbye from a previous prisoner? Or somebody's idea of a cruel joke?"

They both stepped closer to the wall to look at the stone and Jake grinned slowly. "No, I think it's something else." There was enough space around the stone for him to get his fingers around it and it jiggled. "It's loose." The stone pulled free and Cassandra peered into the space behind it. The hole was too small for his hands but Cassandra's would fit with no problem.

"I think there's paper back there," Cassandra said as she squinted into the hole. She reached her hand in and pulled a face with one squinted eye and a scrunched up nose as she attempted to grasp the paper.

Despite their situation Jake felt the urge to grin affectionately at her. Even when they were about to die she was adorable or should he say _especially_ when they were about to die?

"Got it!" She exclaimed as she pulled her hand out of the hole. Jake replaced the stone as Cassandra looked over the paper. She frowned and handed it to him. "It's in German."

Jake took the letter and began to read it, translating the German in his head as he went while Cassie examined their surroundings. She tried to take in every detail and look for any weaknesses. If they had leverage they could maybe lift the door off it's hinges and then open it in toward them. The problem was that they had no tools to create leverage. She would use her magic but at the moment…she was terrified of it. It was best to go with what she knew.

Math, she knew math. It had never failed her before. After calculations on the door proved fruitless she turned to face the window. It was barred, sure, but the bars were widely spaced. She could reach through them with her whole arm, not that she had tried. The cobblestone should prevent her from doing so. She paused at that thought. Although, how did they know really? Was she just accepting all folklore to be true now? What if Josiah had made it up to manipulate them. She hadn't tried to cross a completed line of the stone. If she could get her hand out the window maybe the door downstairs wouldn't be an issue. She looked back at Jake to make sure he wasn't watching and found him still focused on the letter. She took a deep breath and stepped toward the window and slowly reached her hand out toward the bars.

"Hey, Cass, this letter is—" He cut off his sentence and she heard him race across the room to her. He grabbed her hand back from the window and pulled her toward him. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked fearfully.

"How do we know Josiah was telling the truth?"

"What?" Jake asked.

"How do we know what he was saying was true? You mentioned the stones before he used the idea of them downstairs. What if he was lying?"

"And what if you get hurt?" Jake asked her in concern.

"Then I guess we'll know, won't we?" She asked him.

"We don't know what will happen to you if he's telling the truth," Jake said warily.

She stared at him for a long moment before she suddenly ripped her hand out of his grasp and stuck it through the bars. She saw the air turn purple before a searing pain shot up her arm and into her chest and then shoved her back against the wall with a loud thud.

"Cassandra!" Jake exclaimed as he knelt down next to where she slid to the floor. His hand felt the back of her head that had smacked against the wall to make sure she wasn't hurt and then that same hand wrapped around her chin and forced her dazed eyes to focus on his. "Come on, darlin', focus on me. How you doin'? Can you see straight?"

She blinked at him and then furrowed her brow and groaned in pain. "Ow. I think Josiah was telling the truth."

Jake shook his head at her. "You had to prove him right."

"I had to prove theoretical magic," she told him as she tried to push herself up off the floor. Jake grabbed her arms and helped her stand. "I'm a scientist and mathematician. It's what I do."

"Maybe from now on you don't use yourself as a guinea pig, alright?" Jake asked softly.

"I think that might be a good idea," she agreed. Jake still held the letter in his hand and she nodded toward it. "What does it say? You were starting to tell me before…well, you know."

"It's signed _Der Bibliothekar_," he said with a smirk. "German for The Librarian."

Her eyes widened. "What? They kept him in here?"

"Josiah turned him in for being a sorcerer according to this," Jake told her. "Used a variation of the con he used on us on The Librarian back then only before Josiah turned him in the Librarian managed to do a bit of his own research. He says he found a journal with an account of the village. He thinks it was an account from Josiah's team."

"And? Is he a big fat liar?" She asked eagerly.

Jake grinned at her but shook his head. "Not completely. He came out here with a research team, that was true. It was led by a woman, that was true. But she wasn't the one who screwed it up. He was. He was the one looking for the treasure and the villagers captured him and were going to kill him but he heard them say something about needing to burn a witch and—"

"He told them the woman on his team was a witch," she finished for him.

Jake nodded. "They burned her at the stake and nothing changed." He paused and they both stood in silence for a long moment before Jake ran a hand across his forehead and cleared his throat. The reality of what could happen to Cassandra hung in the air and Cassandra wondered if she would ever be free of this familiar feeling of impending death. Jake continued and tried to move passed the moment. "The Librarian thought they kept Josiah alive because they thought he could be useful and because he spoke such good English. He turned in the Librarian to try and save face," Jake told her. "But, as we know," Jake said with a smirk. "Librarians are brilliant. The last line of this letter was about his plan to escape."

"Anything we can use?" She asked hopefully.

"No," Jake answered immediately. "They've changed the door from the one he described. He described an iron grid prison door not a wooden door. I have a feeling they learned from their mistake. Since he left a notation in the Appointment Book and Jenkins didn't mention his premature death taking place in Germany, we can safely assume he survived."

"But he didn't use magic."

Jake sighed. "No, he didn't. The cobblestones didn't affect him at all."

"Right, so odds of his escape were a lot less impossible than ours are right now," Cassandra said with a tired sigh.

"Cassandra, you're not going to die," Jake told her. "We'll get out of here. We'll figure something out."

She chuckled dryly and leaned against the wall. "How?" she asked. "I've calculated every possible angle and every potential weakness and tried to run the possibilities of all the ways we could escape and you know what I've found? Nothing. We have no way out."

* * *

Ezekiel paced and checked his watch. An hour and a half. Jenkins had been calculating for an hour and a half.

"This calculation is taking you longer than the Labyrinth. What is the problem?"

"You've seen my last two attempts, Mr. Jones, have you not? We kept popping up in the same place. We're lucky those men hadn't returned to their posts yet. For some reason I am unable to get any closer than the guard house. It's almost as if something is keeping us out," Jenkins sneered in frustration. This was confounding him and he did not like to be confounded.

"So, you can't lock in using just the map," Ezekiel said with a sigh. He glanced around the room as he tried to think of a way to help. "Maybe we need something else for the door to lock on to."

"It's possible," Jenkins said as he squinted at the globe. "The Door may be able to lock on to an individual much like the Clippings Book sensed Morgan le Fay. It would have to be a very powerful individual though. Someone the Annex and the Library would sense much like the Ley Lines." Jenkins looked up in realization and grinned slightly at Ezekiel. "Someone like—"

"Cassandra," Ezekiel finished for him. His eyes immediately found her notebook at the other end of the table. He raced to it and then tossed it to Jenkins, who easily caught it. "Her notebook a good enough symbol?"

He nodded. "Perfect. I just need a few minutes for the calculations."

"Good because a few minutes is nearly all we have at this point," Ezekiel said as he started to pace again.

* * *

The construction was taking longer than Cassandra anticipated. She estimated they should have been done with the pyre an hour ago. They were cutting it close. There was an hour left until sundown. One hour left and they still had no idea how to get out and had no idea where Ezekiel was. She knew him too well to think he'd bailed so she was officially scared for him. There was too much going on in her mind and she felt like she might burst from the stress.

Just as she thought she couldn't possibly take any more the sound of construction and hammering stopped outside. Cassandra tensed from her spot next to Jake. They both hesitantly glanced toward the window. Neither needed to say what the lack of noise meant. They both knew the pyre was finished. They would be coming soon. Cassandra stood quickly and approached the door. No, that was the last straw. She needed to get out. No way was she going out like this. She took a deep breath and raised her hand to hover over the lock.

"Cassie?" Jake asked.

"I'm getting us out of here. I have to. We can't sit and hope for a brilliant idea any more."

She closed her eyes and focused her energy on the lock and the wooden door. She could feel the magic shifted inside of her and she decided to try and push it toward her hands. She furrowed her brow and bit the inside of her bottom lip. The Magic in her felt hot, white hot, and the heat flowed toward her hands and then her fingertips. She could hear Jake breathing. He sounded tense and his breathing was tight. Even with her eyes closed she could picture him standing next to her with arms crossed across his chest and his eyes watching her closely. The heat exploded from her fingertips but it didn't burn. Her head ached and her chest felt like someone was crushing it. It was hard to breathe and it hurt. She ground her teeth and winced. She felt as if her knees might give out any moment but she managed to stand her ground and visualize the latch and the door again. But instead of the lock clicking open she heard the sound of iron scraping stone and then a loud crash. She gasped and opened her eyes at the noise. The heat of magic left her and the strength that had held her up vanished. Her knees buckled but Jake was there before she even came close to the stone floor.

"Did it work?" She asked weakly.

"Probably not in the way you intended," Jake said honestly as he turned them both to the window. Her vision cleared and her eyes widened. The bars had been pulled completely out of the stone and were resting on the floor.

She laughed weakly and then tried to push away from Jake to stand. "I guess that works."

"You even managed to break the cobblestone pattern around the window," he told her with a proud grin.

"Now we just have to climb down," Cassandra said with a sigh. "How are we going to manage that?"

"Maybe you should just take the stairs instead."

Cassandra and Jake gave each other a surprised glance at he familiar voice that suddenly joined their conversation and slowly turned to face it. Cassandra smiled brightly at the image of Ezekiel leaning against the open doorframe while he twirled the keys to the heavy wooden door around his right ring finger.

"Hey, kids, ready to go home?" He asked with a grin.

"Never been happier to see you in my life, Jones," Jake said with a smirk. "How the hell did you get passed the guards and the elders?"

"The guards took each other out. Not exactly bright those two. As for the Elders, they're out inspecting the pyre. Admiring their handy work, I think. Shouldn't take them long. So we should probably hurry," Ezekiel said as he motioned out the door. He noticed Cassandra leaning against Jake and motioned between them. "You okay to walk, Sabrina?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

She separated herself from Jake and glared at the younger man. "I told you not to call me that."

"Too late, you're stuck with it," Ezekiel said as he started down the steps. Jake followed after him and kept a wary eye on Cassandra as she trailed behind him. They got to the downstairs doorway that led outside and Jake kicked the loose cobblestone out of the way which allowed Cassandra to step through.

"Here's the bad news," Ezekiel whispered as they stopped at the corner of the building.

Jake huffed and glared at him. "Is now really the time for bad news?"

"Take what you can get, mate," Ezekiel said with a shrug. "We had to move the Back Door."

"To where?" Cassandra asked in concern.

Ezekiel wordlessly pointed to the bakery on the other side of the pyre. "Pantry door, in the bakery. Over there."

"Dammit, Jones," Jake hissed. "Are you telling me that we have to walk passed the villagers and the Elders to get the hell out of here? How are we going to do that? _How_?"

"I've got a plan," Ezekiel told him. "Because I'm awesome."

Cassandra rolled her eyes but gave him a small smile. "What is this plan, oh awesome one?"

"You see the kid standing by the pyre?" Ezekiel asked as he pointed the lanky boy in a tattered jacket and patched up slacks. "He's going to cause a distraction and we're going to sneak passed everyone."

"And you think that will work?" Cassandra asked skeptically.

"It'll have to," Ezekiel told her. "Unless one of you has a better idea?"

Jake and Cassandra exchanged awkward glances before they both shook their heads without another word.

"That's what I thought," Ezekiel told them. "Now we wait for the distraction."

A split second later the hay under the pyre lit up with bright flames and then the carefully placed logs fell over into a shapeless pile. The villagers scattered and the Elders attempted to find the culprit. They spotted Josiah searching the crowd for the person responsible as they snuck through the chaos. They'd worked their way through the crowd with Cassandra placed between Ezekiel and Jake and they'd almost made it to the door when an arm snaked around Cassandra's shoulders and snatched her from out between the two men. They both turned to find Josiah holding his arm across Cassandra's throat with a gun pressed carefully into the small of her back.

"I only got a couple bullets left in this gun, but if we can't burn a witch then I guess shootin' one will have to do, won't it?" Josiah whispered into her ear. Her hands grasped his arm and tried to pry it away but he tightened his grip and the gun pressed harder into her back.

"You jackass," Cassandra sneered. "How did I ever think you were charming? You're a self-serving snake. You deserve to be stuck here." He cocked the gun and Cassandra tensed. She felt the same white-hot heat that had ripped the bars out of the wall earlier build up in her hands at the same time the panic built up in her chest. The palms of her hands glowed bright white against the skin of Josiah's fore arms and he cried out in pain as he practically threw her at Jake and Ezekiel.

"Bitch!" He yelled as red handprint shaped burns appeared on his arm. He turned the gun on the three of them.

Jake urgently pushed Cassandra through the Bakery door as Josiah's finger edged toward the trigger and started to squeeze. He turned both himself and Ezekiel away but was afraid he would be too late. The boy who caused the distraction appeared out of nowhere and knocked Josiah to the ground. The gun dropped from Josiah's hand and the boy turned to Jake and Ezekiel and waved them forward.

"Entlaufen!" He yelled.

Jake nodded and grabbed Ezekiel by the shirt and shoved him inside the bakery door just as Josiah picked up his gun again. The door to the bakery closed as the boy threw himself in front of it.

"Nein!" They heard the boy yell before a shot rang out.

"No!" Ezekiel yelled as he turned and headed for the door. Jake gulped thickly but didn't release Ezekiel's shirt. They couldn't stop. Couldn't go back.

"Oh god!" Cassandra yelled. "Is he okay?"

Jake ignored her and ripped open the pantry door with his hand that didn't have a sturdy hold on Ezekiel. Sure enough, Jenkins was standing on the other side. "Go," He told Cassie as he motioned to the door.

"But, the boy! We have to find out if—"

"Cassie, Josiah is coming through that door and we have just over half an hour before this place vanishes for good. Please go," Jake said as he swallowed thickly and avoided her gaze.

She took in a shaky breath and nodded. Her eyes were watering but she didn't argue and stepped through the door. One down, one more to go.

"Jones," Jake said hoarsely. "We have to go."

"We can't just leave him!" Ezekiel said as he pulled against Jake's grip.

"We don't have time."

"Without him I wouldn't have been able to get to Jenkins or help the two of you escape! He led me in the right direction! We have to help him! He helped us!" Ezekiel said urgently. "Let me go, Stone! Let me go!"

Jake looked through the door to Jenkins with a pleading look. Jenkins gave him a helpless look and a shrug. He didn't know what to do either. Jake barely knew how to handle Ezekiel when he pretended nothing bothered him. He definitely didn't know how to handle emotional Jones. Especially not when Jake wanted nothing more than to rush through those doors and find that kid. But he couldn't. They couldn't. He didn't know how to say this to Ezekiel. However, he never got the chance. Josiah burst through the door with his gun drawn on them before he could.

"What did you do to him?" Ezekiel asked with a glare.

"You mean the kid? He'll be fine," Josiah spat. "As long as he doesn't bleed out, that is. You want him so bad, Librarian?" Neither Jake nor Ezekiel answered so Josiah continued. "Fine, I'll trade you. The boy for the witch. Who will it be?"

Ezekiel heard Cassandra start to say something from inside the Back Door and he turned to give her a silencing look. She was safe and she was going to stay that way.

"You don't even know that burning a witch will save all of you," Jake said with a shake of his head. "You don't know what caused this in the first place. What if you do burn a witch and nothing changes?"

"We won't know until we do it, now will we?" Josiah asked angrily. "You're really going to leave all of these people stuck here to protect _one woman_? I thought Librarians were about the greater good?"

"We are, but not when you plan on killing innocent people to achieve it," Ezekiel said with a glare. "That boy did nothing wrong and neither did Cassandra. This is not the way to resolve this. You've all gone mad."

"We're doing what we have to. We have no choice," Josiah said as he cocked his gun again.

"No," Cassandra said through the door. "You have a choice. You've always had a choice. You just keep making the wrong ones."

"Just remember, witch, this is all your fault," Josiah raised the gun to Ezekiel's chest. Cassandra gasped in panic and raced to the door. She reached through to swiftly pull both Jake and Ezekiel inside. She jerked them through the door as The Annex thoughtfully slammed the Back Door shut behind them.

"No!" Ezekiel yelled as he reached for the door and ripped it open. Instead of an old bakery he found a broom closet. "We could have saved him!"

"Ezekiel," Cassie said softly as she placed an arm on his shoulder. "There was no time. Josiah would have killed you—"

"I don't care," He said as he took a deep breath and glared angrily at the floor. He shrugged off Cassandra's hand. "We should have saved him. He was just trying to help us."

"Even if you'd gotten to him, Mr. Jones, you couldn't have brought him through the door. Not unless the curse was broken. Magic always has a price and we just don't know what side effects he would have suffered when displaced from the village," Jenkins told him. "He may not have survived outside of it."

"He deserved more from us," Ezekiel said finally in a soft tone. "He deserved a chance."

Ezekiel turned and left the Annex without another word to his fellow Librarians.

Cassandra sat down at the table and stared down at her notebook with a blank expression and Jake shook his head with a sigh.

"He's right. Jones is right. The kid deserved more from us," Jake said softly.

"Many times in your life you'll find that people deserve more," Jenkins told them honestly. "And try as you might sometimes you can't follow through with what they deserve. You may want to and you may try with all you have in you, but there will be times when all you have just isn't enough. I think all of you may have learned that today. It seems to be a lesson that has affected Mr. Jones most poignantly."

"I've never seen him so emotional," Cassandra said with a sad sigh. "He must have really connected with that boy."

Jake nodded. "Probably saw a lot of himself in him." He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck as he stared at the floor thoughtfully. "It's easy to get involved when you identify with someone."

Cassandra nodded her agreement. "I feel like we should go after him."

"He'll be fine," Jenkins assured them. "Some time alone may do him good. Besides, there's no telling where he could be by now. He makes part of his living by hiding. We'd never find him unless he wanted us to. He'll come back. Just give him time."

"We made it back safe," Cassandra said as she dug through the books on the table. She paused as she found the Appointment Book. She continued as she opened it to the last page. "But I don't think we made it back whole."

She was leaving copious notes in the Appointment Book. What happened to them would not happen to future Librarians. She would make sure of it.


	9. Episode 02, Tag

**Episode Two: ...And the Phantom Village**

* * *

_Tag: Brocéliande_

* * *

The Back Door blew open and Eve and Flynn raced through and immediately closed the door behind them. They leaned against it for a moment to recover as Flynn patted his coat pocket and then sighed in relief. He hurriedly made his way to the Card Catalogue. They had the Library back but when they needed to find information in a hurry The Annex's Card Catalogue was the best way to go. He furiously flipped through the cards and pulled the ones that he thought would be helpful. Jenkins came in from his lab and gave them a curious look.

"When did you two arrive?"

"Just now," Eve said as she brushed the dirt off of her jacket and approached him. "How are the kids?" She blew a loose strand of hair out her face and crossed her arms over her chest. Business as usual.

"Home safe," Jenkins said with a sigh. "But perhaps not so sound. The case didn't go as they had hoped, particularly for Mr. Jones."

Flynn started up the steps to the stacks to pull the books he needed. He raced up and down the steps several times in a hurry. Eve gave him a concerned yet amused look before turning back to Jenkins.

"I'll have to get details later. Are they dealing with it okay?" She asked worriedly.

"As well as can be expected. So, what did the two of you find?" Jenkins asked as he too shot the noisy Librarian a look. But his was more of annoyance than concern.

Flynn interrupted him by pulling the ring out of his jacket pocket and holding it up for Jenkins to see as he came down the stairs with a stack of books.

"How in all of Tennyson did the two of you come across that?" Jenkins asked as he took the ring from Flynn.

Flynn's head shot up. "You know what it is?"

"Yes, of course. The Ring of Dispel. Given to Lancelot by the Lady of Lake to protect him from magic and enchantments," Jenkins said as he studied the ruby in the center. "It's been lost for centuries."

"The Ring of Dispel! How did I miss that?" Flynn berated himself as he dropped the books onto the table with a huff.

"Where did you find this?" Jenkins asked the couple.

"Brocéliande," Flynn said simply.

"Creepiest forest I have ever seen in my life," Eve said with a grimace.

"You know, some people consider it the most romantic forest," Flynn said with a teasing grin.

"Yeah, well those people have never been chased through it by ghostly knights, have they?" Eve asked him with a pointed glare.

"Probably not, no," Flynn agreed with a chuckle.

Jenkins smirked to himself before he spoke. "You found this in Morgan le Fay's backyard. My will she be put out when she gets word of this. So this is what the Clippings Book led you to?"

"It would appear so," Flynn told him with a nod as he stared down at the books he no longer needed.

"Fascinating," Jenkins said as he continued to study the ring.

"What's so fascinating about it?" Eve asked.

"Not the ring, per say, but the fact that The Library led you to this ring so soon after The Lady of the Lake came thundering into our lives. It's an extraordinary coincidence," Jenkins said as he wondered off into his lab. Presumably to find something to contain the ring in.

"I'm getting a little tired of that word," Eve said with a sigh.

"What word?" Flynn asked.

"Coincidence," Eve clarified. "We have far too many of those around here."

After a certain amount of them, they stopped being coincidences and started to look more like calculated moves. But who's moves they were she couldn't begin to guess.

"Remind me, in the Annex and The Library we have Sir Galahad, The Lady of the Lake, The Crown of King Arthur—"

"The Grail—"

"We have the Grail?"

"How do you think The Library came to employ Sir Galahad?"

"And then on our list of enemies we have Lancelot and Morgan le Fay. You ever think we're a little too involved in the Arthurian stuff?" Eve asked warily.

"Being involved with real life legends is part of what makes this job so much fun, Guardian."

"Oh really? I thought it was the monsters and evil cults that did that, Librarian?" Eve asked with a half hearted grin.

"Eh, only sometimes," Flynn said with a chuckle as he came around the table and stepped closer to her. He frowned when Eve didn't smirk at him or react at all. Instead she looked off into the distance thoughfully."What are you thinking?" Flynn asked.

"Coincidences make me nervous. Plus, Dulaque was a little too interested in us before, throw in Cassandra's new Lady of the Lake title—"

"Trust me, Dulaque is not who we need to worry about," Flynn said as he interrupted her. "Viviane raised him. He respects her too much to hurt her legacy. No, it's Morgan we should be focusing on now. There's no limit to what she's capable of, and Cassandra's control over magic is still a work in progress. That makes all of us vulnerable."

Eve sighed. "They need a Guardian more than ever now, and I can't be in two places at once." She gave Flynn a hesitant look. "As much as I love working with you I think…I think I should stick to the kids for a while."

"I can't say I wasn't expecting this," Flynn said with a nod. "And I think it's a good idea. At least until the Library finds us some help."

Her brow furrowed at him. "You think the Library might bring us another Guardian?"

"The ratio of Guardians to Librarians has changed pretty drastically. No one would expect you to protect all of us at once, Eve. I'm almost positive the Library is already working on it," Flynn said as he looked toward the ceiling. "Aren't you?" He asked the room loudly.

A book fell from a shelf over Eve's shoulder and she bent down to pick it up. She grinned and shook her head. "I'll take that as a yes," she said as she flipped through the book.

"What is it?" Flynn asked.

"A photo album full of previous Guardians, with one blank spot on the last page."

"Let me guess, right next to your charming picture?"

"Charming? Why do I look so…stern?"

"I forget you didn't see yourself in the early days."

She turned and glared at her Librarian and he quickly held his hands up in surrender.

"Still you were charming. Absolutely charming. Dinner?" He asked with a smile. "My treat."

"After today, it better be," Eve said with a chuckle as she pulled his hands down from the air and looped her arm through his. "Lead the way, Librarian."

"Don't mind if I do, Guardian."


	10. Episode 03, Cold Open

**Episode Three: …And the War Within**

* * *

_Cold Open: Sam_

* * *

He was tired. It was an exhaustion that went bone deep. But he'd take tired over hungover any day. He threw his hard hat into the passenger seat of his truck and nodded to his men as they left the site. They'd all put in a hard days work. It felt good, working again. Having the presence of mind to actually get in there and get his hands dirty. His orange safety vest joined the hard hat in his passenger seat and the top few buttons of his coveralls were quickly undone. It had been nearly unbearable in the heat of the rig and it was still overwhelming while standing outside of his truck in the late afternoon.

He just had to make it a few more minutes. He needed to make sure all of his workers were safely on their way home before he hopped in his truck and headed on his way. He closed the driver's side door and leaned against it with his arms crossed.

He really did like being back on the job. He supposed he had his son to thank for that. The kid had always liked to wander, though, he'd only taken a handful of opportunities to do so in his life time. There was that time he took that job flying back and forth to Alaska, those trips to that refinery in Texas, the temporary contract job in Arkansas…

But this time the kid had really done it. No one knew what he was actually up to. He'd given them all a line about where he would be if they needed him, but that had fallen through a few weeks back. Only, neither of his parents had the heart to tell him. So they let him think they believed it.

He had to admit at first he was furious. The kid left him short handed. He'd raise the boy to take over and run the place. It would take far too long to hire and train a replacement. So for the first time in years, he ventured out and returned to the work force. Picking up the slack his son left behind. But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. Forced him to put the bottle down. You needed a clear head to work on a rig like theirs and it gave him room to really look at what he'd given up on and wasted. He wasn't sure he liked what he saw.

If getting back to his roots over the last several months had taught him anything, it was that there was always a way back home. And, lord willing, he had found it. Now it was up to him to mend the bridges he'd burned during all those wasted years. Starting with the kid. He had a whole hoard of kids, but he seemed to have messed up with one more than the others. A lot more.

If he ever got up the nerve.

His phone rang and he quickly pulled it out of his back pocket and smiled at his wife's number on his caller ID.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said with a smile.

"You're late, you said you'd be home in time for supper."

"I know, we ran a little late today. Just waiting on my guys to leave and then I'll be there. Keep a plate warm for me, will ya?" He asked apologetically.

"Of course, the kids came by for dinner," the voice said kindly.

"All of 'em?" He asked hopefully.

"All but one, Sam," his wife said in a knowing tone. "He'll come 'round when he's ready. Really, you can't really blame him for runnin' off. He had the whole world on his shoulders. He needs a break."

"I can't fix, what I can't see, Deb," Sam told her with a huff.

"It's not as if you'd be able to fix it overnight anyway, hon. You got a long road ahead of you with him," she told him honestly. "He won't be as forgivin' as the younger ones."

Finally, his last man waved to him as he got in his truck and drove out of the gate. Sam sighed and nodded in agreement with his wife, even if she couldn't see him. "Okay, Tommy just left, he was my last guy. I'm gonna lock up here and then I'll be home."

"Alright, see you in a few. Drive safe. Love you."

"Love you too," Sam said as he hung up the phone and got in his truck. He drove out of the gate and then stopped to lock it up. Turning to look at his rig one last time. Pride. That's what he felt. Pride.

How many years had it been since he'd felt that in himself?

Too many to count, he thought as he locked the gate and put the keys in his pocket. He turned to get into his truck and heard a rustling sound several feet behind him. It sounded like something rattling the fence. He cursed and turned toward it.

"Damn, Coyotes," he muttered under his breath. He couldn't see anything but in the setting sunlight that wasn't a surprise. He shrugged it off and headed for his truck again. He froze when he felt something brush against his leg. "What in the sam hill…"

He turned again and still nothing was there. He rubbed a hand across his forehead and shook his head. "I picked a fine time to quit drinking. Snap out of it, Sam. It's just your imagination."

He turned back toward his truck to leave but was suddenly knocked to the ground by a strong gust of wind.

And that's when everything went black.


	11. Episode 03, Act 01

Episode 03: ...And the War Within

by angellwings

* * *

Act One: Owayne

* * *

Helping Cassandra practice her magic had become a daily event now for Jake. Here lately, he'd been more of a bystander than a participant, really. She was able to do simple things on her own, with out an anchor, now. She could levitate a book, she could write with a pen without actually using her hands (a trick that still made Jake uneasy when he watched her working out her usual math problems), she could even stir her coffee with just a flick of her finger.

Big stuff was still a ways away though. For some reason, she was dead set on trying to figure out how to create fire. Why she had zoned in on that skill he wasn't quite sure, but that was her current goal. Jones had tried to convince her to practice magically picking a lock. ("Or maybe more like a safe or vault door…" he'd added hopefully just before Cassandra shut him down.)

This morning, though, when he arrived at The Annex she wasn't practicing. She had her hands in the air flipping through images he couldn't see. Working out math he'd never understand.

"Cassie?"

"Shh, I'm doing math. Well, more accurately, seeing what happens when I do math and magic simultaneously," she said as she continued to look at whatever her brilliant brain was imagining.

She held out her right hand with the with her palm facing away from her while her left continued to help her work out the problem. He watched as a pile of books at the other end of the table began to shake. At the bottom of which, was her notebook. He watched her carefully, afraid that this time she might be overdoing it. The stack of books fell, but the notebook began to slide across the table toward her. She winced and gritted her teeth but she didn't waiver. It looked like she might actually manage multi tasking her abilities until it happened.

She wobbled.

He tried not to race to her side immediately. Last time he had done that she said he actually made it worse. Something about how it psyched her out and made her give up quicker than she ought to. He hadn't really understood and tried to argue the issue but nothing he said had changed her mind. So, he was fighting his instincts and keeping his distance a bit longer than he liked. This time he managed to hold off until her knees actually buckled before he ran to her. He caught her by the waist and steadied her while he listened to her breathing. Only when her breathing evened out and she was standing on her own did his worry start to ease. He released her reluctantly and she turned to face him with a grin.

"Took you long enough," she said as she tried to shake away the fog in her brain that always seemed to follow one of her spells.

He blinked at her and felt frustration bubble up in his chest. His arms flailed in what, he was sure, was probably the least graceful way possible as he tried not to yell. "Took me long—You said—no—yelled at me about how my rushing to your side every time you looked a bit weak made you worse! And now you're complaining about—make up your mind, woman!"

Her eyebrows rose and she attempted to hide her smile by biting her lip, but it wasn't long before she laughed loudly at him. "I was kidding, Stone."

He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes as he often did when she or Jones drove him just a little crazy and he felt her smaller hands pull his away from his face slowly.

"I'm sorry," she said with a small smile. "You're just too much fun to tease sometimes. Thank you for keeping your distance earlier. I appreciated it."

A grin pulled at the edge of his mouth and he nodded. "That wasn't exactly easy for me, you know."

She nodded and squeezed his hands. "I know. Thank you."

"You're welcome," he answered as his blue eyes met hers. They stayed that way for a long moment. Longer than strictly necessary, really, before she released his hands and started cleaning up the mess she'd made with the books. He watched her silently as she gathered them in a stack and then looked at him with a mischievous smirk.

"Besides, Jacob," she said as she headed to the stairs. She climbed a few before she turned to him to finish her sentence. "You're awfully cute when you're flustered."

She didn't wait for his reaction before she turned and went up the stairs to disappear into the stacks. He blushed a little and grinned to himself as he watched her walk away. Okay, that was definitely flirting. That was new. Well, for her at least. Just when he thought he might have that girl figured out, she always found a way to surprise him.

"Good God, just get a room already, will you?" a voice asked from the door. "You two are moving at a snails pace. Let's speed this up a bit."

Jake rolled his eyes and turned to face a smug looking Ezekiel Jones. "Why don't you mind your own business for once, huh?"

"Is that even possible around here?" Ezekiel asked with a smirk. "At this point, we are all in each other's business all the time, and I think I speak for Baird, Flynn, and Jenkins when I say: get a move on, cowboy. This was fun at first but now it's just getting tired."

"Good morning, Librarians," Eve said as she practically floated through the door.

"Someone's in a good mood," Cassandra said with a smile as she appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I've had a good morning—no, scratch that—great morning," Eve said with a contented sigh. "Don't you dare mess this up for me, Jones. Clear?"

"As crystal," he answered with a nod and a smirk.

"Where's Flynn?" Jake asked. Lately, the two of them had been coming into the Annex together.

"He went to New York this morning," Eve answered. "To move out of his apartment."

"He's moving to Portland?" Cassie asked excitedly as she practically ran down the stairs.

Eve nodded. "The Library is anchored here now. There's no need for him to keep his place in the city."

Eve sat down at her desk and said nothing further on the subject, which effectively meant they should drop it. She was trying too hard not to appear to be excited about Flynn moving to Portland full time. And the three of them got the distinct impression she wasn't telling them everything.

Jake sat down at the main table and placed his mini clippings book and his coffee down in front of him. Whatever it was, he trusted Eve to tell them when the time was right. He wasn't really worried about it. Suddenly his clippings book began to glow and he clumsily fumbled to open it.

At the same time the Back Door rattled and then burst open before Flynn and a handtruck filled with boxes came into the room.

"Oh good!" Flynn announced. "You're all here! You can help me move!"

"You gonna pay us?" Ezekiel asked.

"Yes, with pizza," Flynn told him with a smirk.

"Extra cheese double pep?" He asked hopefully.

"Sure," Flynn said with a shrug.

"Then I'm in!" Ezekiel exclaimed.

"I'd love to," Stone said as he opened his book. "But I think I've got a case. Anything in either of your books?" He asked Cassandra and Ezekiel.

Ezekiel pulled his out his jacket pocket and shook his head as he skimmed through it. Cassie picked hers up off the table and flipped through it quickly before she too shook her head.

Eve stood up to join them at the table. "You know, maybe we should all work on it. Together." She gave Flynn a meaningful look and he nodded.

"Yes, you should. I can handle this.," He said as he motioned to the boxes.

"What if something happens in the big book?" Cassandra asked. "Who will be here to handle that?"

"I'll handle it. After all, I am the Librarian," Flynn offered with a smile. "Well, Senior Librarian," he said with a slight frown.

Jake's brow furrowed at the pair. "Okay, what's going on? Since you 'graduated' us, you and Baird have been working every case together."

"And we're fine with that," Ezekiel said with a smirk. "We're great with that. So keep doing it, yeah?"

"No, no," Eve said with a forced smile. "I think I should work with the three of you this time. Just in case."

"In case of what?" Cassandra asked in concern.

"We have a new threat to worry about now," Baird said with a sigh. "Flynn and I think it's best if I stick with you three for a while. Le Fay could show up at any time and we want to make sure we're prepared for—"

"So, this is because of me?" Cassie asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No," Flynn answered. "This is because of Morgan le—"

"Right, who's after _me_," Cassandra said as she interrupted The Librarian. Cassandra didn't look scared. She looked angry. "She's not after all of you. I'm the one with the magic. You're babysitting us again because of me, aren't you?"

"It's not babysitting, per say—"

"If Morgan's such a threat then maybe I should be on my own," Cassandra offered as she once again interrupted Flynn.

Jake immediately stood up to put himself between Eve, Flynn, and Cassie. "Whoa. Hold on." He turned to Cassandra with a pleading expression. "Just take a breath, Cass." She bit her bottom lip but nodded and willed herself to calm down. "Now, no one is going anywhere alone. Especially not you," he said as he gave Cassandra a knowing look. "You know what le Fay would do to you if she got her hands on you and we're not letting that happen."

"But if she's such a danger to us it would only make sense if I—"

"If you go then we're just gonna follow after you," Ezekiel said as he interrupted the red head with a smirk. "And I can't speak for the other three but I'm stealthy, you'll never know I'm there so you won't be able to stop me."

"It's not logical for all of us to be in danger because a sorceress wants _my_ head. If my leaving would protect all of you then I'm fine with it. I've been alone before, I can do it again," Cassandra told them with a determined glare.

"No," Flynn said sternly. "None of us are going to be alone. Not anymore. Before all of this we were all, to some extent, solitary creatures. Yes, we're all probably stronger for it but you can't deny it didn't cause quite a bit of unnecessary scarring. We have each other now and we're sticking with it. Now, in the interest of preserving this little…family, Eve or myself will be accompanying the three of you on missions until such time as the Library brings us another guardian. Are we clear?"

Stone and Ezekiel nodded wordlessly and Flynn turned a pointed, almost parental, look on the last member of the trio. "Cassandra?"

She took a deep breath and then sighed in resignation. "Clear."

"And no attempting to run off with out us in the middle of the night," came a voice from the other corner of the room. They all turned to find Jenkins watching Cassandra expectantly. "You're just the type to attempt something so foolhardy, Ms. Cillian."

Cassandra blushed and looked to the floor in embarrassment proving to everyone that she had, in fact, been plotting just that.

"You must swear to us, Ms. Cillian, that you will not make some idiotic self sacrificing gesture on our behalf. Right now," Jenkins told her.

There was a prolonged silence in the room as all eyes turned to Cassandra who was focusing her gaze on her shoes.

"We're waiting," Eve said as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Fine," Cassandra said with a huff. "I promise I won't run off on my own in an attempt to save all of you from Morgan le Fay."

"You weren't crossing any fingers or toes were you?" Ezekiel asked warily as he circled her.

"No, I'm not a child," Cassandra told him stiffly. All she had done was bring up a possibility—an idea—and now she felt like she was being chided like a naughty toddler.

"Good, now that we're clear on that," Baird said brightly as she turned to Stone. "What's the case?"

Jake watched as Cassandra retreated to the far corner of the room and waited for her to turn her gaze back on the group before he answered Eve. "I, um-it's just a bunch of clippings from small town newspapers." He skimmed the articles and the dates. "People having nervous breakdowns, seemingly going mad, for no reason. Usually doing something embarrassing in public or—now that's interesting."

"What?" Cassandra asked from her spot across the room.

"This woman suddenly ran out into the street shouting frantically in Greek."

"What's interesting about that?" Ezekiel asked.

"She didn't know how to speak Greek. Didn't know any languages at all, in fact. She just went insane and starting shouting it at people on the street," Stone elaborated.

"That's new," Flynn said with a smirk. "And yes, Stone, very interesting. Where was this?"

"It was—" He cut off his sentence and shook his head. "You gotta be kidding me?" He looked up at the ceiling of the room before he spoke loudly. "You just had to give this to me, didn't you? You couldn't resist."

"Where is it?" Ezekiel asked with a furrowed brow.

"Oklahoma," Jake answered with a sigh.

"Where in Oklahoma?" Cassandra asked curiously as she took a step toward the group.

"I'll give you one guess," Jake said as he dropped his clippings book onto the table.

Flynn gave Eve a sidelong glance before he spoke next. "How…coincidental."

"We are not using that word ever again," Eve said with a glare. "We use it far too much."

"Shall I set the Back Door?" Jenkins asked with a grin.

Of course Jenkins would be enjoying this. Jacob groaned miserably and ground the heels of his hands into his eyes for the second time that day. "Sure, why not," he said sarcastically. "This is gonna be great."

* * *

"Owayne, really?" Flynn asked as they took that first rocky step through the Back Door. "Your hometown is named Owayne?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Jake asked Flynn with a quirked brow.

"No, no, nothings wrong really. It's just quite a coinc—" Flynn stopped himself and gave Eve a fearful look. "It's just what are the chances of your town having a name so similar to one of Morgan le Fay's sons?"

The other four people traveling with Flynn froze on the other side of the door.

"What?" Jake asked.

"Yvain or Owain, he was one of Morgan le Fay's sons and a Knight of the Round Table. Or possibly adopted son, that's debatable," Flynn clarified. "I'm sure we could ask Jenkins. He'd probably know which it was."

"Next time you realize something like that, Librarian, don't tell me," Eve said with a tired sigh. Now she was even more worried than before. A part of her feared they were walking into some sort of trap.

"At least he didn't say coincidence," Ezekiel said with a smirk.

"Yes. A little sloppy on the execution but he does get an A for effort on that one," Baird said as she tossed a grin at Flynn. He smiled and winked at her in return.

The door had opened into the kitchen of a local diner and everyone turned to glare at the inturders. A large man in a greasy apron waved a spatula at them.

"The back door's for employees only! Go on now, git!" He said as he ushered them out of the kitchen and into the dining area.

"Well, that's not exactly a convenient location for the door," Cassandra said with a huff as they reached the dining room.

"The Medical Center is just down the road," Jake said as they headed for the door. "The woman who had the breakdown will still be there. The date on the article was yesterday. That's where we should start."

"Do we have a name?" Eve asked.

"Katie Ford," Jake answered. "She must be new in town because I don't know her. And I know everyone."

"This place is a lot smaller than I imagined," Ezekiel said. They had stepped outside onto the sidewalk and he was looking around curiously. "I mean you said it was a small town, but this is worse than small. This is _miniature_."

Cassandra smacked Ezekiel's arm and shot him a silencing glare to shut him up. "I think it's cute," she said as she gave Jake a genuine smile.

"No," Jake said with a dry smirk. "He's right. It's miniature. The Medical Center is at the end of the street. They'd keep her there instead of the drunk tank."

"Drunk tank?" Flynn asked. "Meaning the local jail?"

Jake nodded.

"Well, isn't that…_colorful_," Flynn said with a smirk.

They walked inside the Medical Center and Jake made a beeline for the desk in the main lobby.

"Christy," he said as he leaned against the desk.

The brunette turned and smiled brightly at him. "Jacob! When did you get back in town?"

"About ten minutes ago," he said with his most charming smile. "Listen, my friends, here, are needing to talk to Katie Ford. She was probably brought in yesterday."

Christy immediately looked at him sadly and winced. "I'm sorry, Ms. Ford died last night."

"Really?" Jake asked as he exchanged a worried look with the others. "What happened?"

"No one knows," Christy whispered. "The nurse went to check on her last night and she was just…gone. She'd been acting very strangely yesterday but she was perfectly healthy. Everyone was mystified."

"Does she have any family in town?" Eve asked from behind Jake.

"Um, no, no family. There was a man that came into town with her though. He's staying at the bed and breakfast. I think he was her research partner or something," Christy said as she gave Eve a wary look. Clearly, Jake's mistrust of new people came naturally.

Jake nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks, Christy. I'll see you around."

"Of course you will. The weekly town barbecue is tonight."

Jake bit back a groan and forced an excited smile. "Oh, right, it's Friday."

"Don't tell me you're not coming," Christy said as she put on a pout and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cassandra lean her weight to one side and cross her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, Jake," Ezekiel said with a cheeky grin. "Don't disappoint the nice medical professional."

"That's fine," Cassandra said as she rolled her eyes. "You guys stay here and flirt, Eve and Flynn and I will go work on the case. You know, like we're supposed to do. So, _Christy_, where's this bed and breakfast?"

Christy blinked at Cassandra in surprise. "Take a right out of the building and then take a left onto the second street you come to. It's the Sunshine Bed and Breakfast."

Cassandra turned on her heel and left, Flynn and Eve hesitantly followed her. Eve gave Jake and Ezekiel parental glances as if to say, stay out of trouble. Jake gave the group that was leaving a confused look. What just happened?

"Are you back in town to check on your dad?" Christy asked.

Jake's head quickly turned back to her. "What?"

"I just heard from Jimmy that they found your dad unconscious at the rig site this morning," Christy told him.

"Probably just got a little carried away at Duke's last night. He'll be fine," Jake said as he waved dismissively.

"I don't know," she said worriedly. "Jimmy said when he came to he was muttering gibberish. Sounded like he was pretty out of it. And your mother said she hadn't heard from him since he called her just before he closed up the rig site."

Jake glanced back at Ezekiel and huffed. He really didn't want to discuss this in front of the thief. Suddenly, Christy's last sentence clicked. "Wait. He closed up the rig? _My dad_ showed up to work?"

"Yeah, he's been going every day since you left," She told him with a nod. "Jimmy said he almost seemed like his old self again. Have you not talked to them since you ran off to that oil refinery in Texas?"

"I, um, I've been a little busy lately," he said honestly. "Thanks, Chris. Really, I appreciate the help."

Jake said his goodbyes and finally he and Ezekiel headed to the bed and breakfast to catch up with the others.

"So," Ezekiel asked. "You and Christy, any history there?"

"In a town this size, everybody has history," Jake answered vaguely. "You didn't have to stay behind, you know."

"Eh, watching you flirt with Christy was more entertaining then talking to some egghead researching fairytales," Ezekiel said with a smirk.

"I wasn't flirting," Jake protested. "I was being polite. There's a difference."

"Sure there is," Ezekiel said with a chuckle as they exited the Medical Center and made a right toward the bed and breakfast. "You may want to explain that difference to Cassandra because I'm fairly certain she couldn't see it."

"What?" Jake asked with a furrowed brow.

"Snippy Cassandra is Jealous Cassandra. How do you not know this? Aren't you the world's leading expert on Cassandra or something?" Ezekiel asked as they walked.

"I can't say I've ever seen her jealous before—"

Ezekiel scoffed in disbelief but said nothing so Jake continued.

"—And she has nothing to be jealous of. I wasn't flirting."

Ezekiel gave his coworker an intrigued look. "Wait, but if you had been flirting you think her jealousy would have been justified?"

"I didn't say—"

"You didn't have to. Does that mean you don't plan on flirting with anyone but Cassandra from here on out? Because, mate, you flirted with a lot of birds last year while we were on cases, including one that regularly tried to kill us, so if that's the case you'd better be preparing to make a move sometime soon. If it's serious enough for you to give up flirting then it's serious enough for a date," Ezekiel told him with a smirk.

Jake ignored him and muttered violently under his breath as they finally reached the bed and breakfast. Cassandra, Flynn, and Eve were chatting with a man in his mid-thirties who was leaning against a large white van.

"Look," the man said with a sigh. "I really just want to get out of this town."

"And we're going to let you," they heard Cassandra say soothingly. "But we were hoping you could answer some questions for us first. We're trying to find out what happened to Katie."

He sighed and nodded reluctantly. "If it helps figure this out then fine. What question is first?"

"What were you here researching?" Cassandra asked.

"Katie was working on a book about Japanese folklore. A follower on Twitter sent some information on this town and she wanted to see if it was true," the man answered with a sigh. "I should have fought her on it. Following a hunch from a Twitter follower? That was never going to end well."

"Why would you come here to research Japanese Folklore?" Flynn asked him with a furrowed brow.

"We found an article, well, an obituary, really, from a couple of towns over about an old man who died. Only it was as if his heart just randomly stopped because he was perfectly healthy for his age and didn't have a history of any major health problems or conditions. When his wife found his body she found his hand wrapped around a pen at their desk. He'd been writing a letter, only she couldn't read it. It was in Japanese," the researcher told them. "The weird thing about it though? This man didn't know Japanese. He didn't know any other languages at all in fact."

"If it was a couple of towns over," Jake asked as he announced his presence. "Why come to Owayne at all?"

"The old man's daughter lives here. She's a waitress at the diner on Main Street. The wife said he'd written her several letters before he died. Katie wanted to see if those letters were in Japanese too. We only got to talk to the daughter for a brief moment before she suddenly took off for the street rattling off in Greek for the whole town to hear and then she collapsed. We never found out about the other letters," he admitted.

"Thank you, Evan," Cassie said as she reached out and squeezed the man's arm comfortingly. "We appreciate your help with this."

Ezekiel gave Jake a sidelong glance and smirked before he leaned toward him and whispered, "Jealous yet Stone?"

"Shut up, Jones," Stone said through gritted teeth.

The worst part was, the kid was right. He _was_ kind of jealous.

He hated it when Jones was right.


	12. Episode 03, Act 02

Episode Three: ...And the War Within

* * *

Act Two: Gossip

* * *

Eve and Flynn left Cassie to finish up with Evan and then turned to Stone and Jones.

"Eve and I will go talk to the daughter about the letters," Flynn said with a nod.

"Stone, this is your town," Eve told him. "See what you can find out from the locals about any similar occurrences or other strange happenings and take Ezekiel with you."

Jake shot a glance at Cassie as she chatted with Evan. "What about her?"

"She's fine. Evan's going to show her the research he and Katie had completed so far. She'll go over it with him and catch up with us," Eve told him.

"So, you're just gonna leave her alone with him?" Jake asked worriedly.

Ezekiel smirked at him. "That a problem, Stone?"

He cleared his throat and shook his head. "No," he grumbled. "No problem. Come on, we're going to Duke's."

"Duke's?" Ezekiel asked.

Jake reluctantly turned and led Jones away from Cassie and Evan. "It's the local bar. Ashby, the bartender, knows all the gossip in town. He'll know if something's up."

* * *

Christy checked her watch and then quietly stood up from her desk as the nurse for the next shift came to relieve her at the reception desk. She smiled gracious and then made her way to the employee locker rooms to change out of her work clothes. As she rounded the island of lockers in the middle of the dressing room she found raven-haired woman waiting on her. She jumped and pressed a hand to her chest in shock.

"Jesus, Sakura, you have got to stop that."

"So, did you talk to him?"

"He had others with him and the flirting didn't work," Christy said with a shrug. "There was some red head he was in to."

"Yes, I've seen her. But I wasn't quite sure if he was attached to her or not."

"Looked like he was to me. This is ridiculous," Christy said with a huff as she motioned down the length of her body. "We've got this poor girl locked up and we didn't even get to speak to him. With that red head around he won't look at us twice," Christy told her as she pulled off her scrubs and began to change clothes.

Sakura stood and lifted a piece of Christy's brown hair between her fingers. "No, he won't. Not if we look like what he expects to find here, that is."

"All we know about him, other than his occupation, is what people in this god forsaken ghost town say, and that's clearly not accurate. Those people with him did not seem like his kind of people," Christy said with a huff as she swatted away Sakura's hand.

"Maybe the people in this town don't know Jacob Stone like they think they do," Sakura said with a grin. "Watching you fail to flirt with him was actually enlightening."

"Gee, thanks," Christy said with a roll of her eyes. "How so?"

"I think we need to change our approach, imouto," Sakura told her with an affectionate smile. "Best to let me handle this." Sakura waved a hand over her appearance and slowly her striking Asian features and long silky hair transformed into shoulder length copper hair, fair freckled skin, and pale blue eyes. She glanced down at her out fit and then pulled a compact mirror out of her pocket. She glanced at her reflection for a moment and then the mirror changed into an image of Jacob Stone and his friends. Her black jeans and black button up would not do. She snapped her fingers and her clothes dissolved into a flowery dress, brightly colored leggings, and flat lace up ankle boots with frilly socks peeking out over the tops. She nodded and gave her reflection a satisfied smile. "Much better."

"What makes you think he'll respond to that?" Christy asked. "You didn't mimic her completely. You look close, but you're not _her_."

"I don't need to be," Sakura said as she continued to admire her new face. "I just need to be close enough. He'll do the rest."

Christy sighed and bowed respectfully. "Ganbatte."

The recent red head bowed in return. "Un, ganabaru. Now, go home and change. When we deal with what to do with the girl we don't need you resembling her. Your part in this is done for now."

Chirsty called after her to stop her before she left the room. "I promise I did my best."

Sakura came back to face her, nodded, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know, Natsuki. You did well. He's just more difficult to reach than we thought. Don't worry."

"It's just we don't have much time left to—"

"I said don't worry, and I meant it. We'll be fine. We are always are," Sakura said dismissively. She continued on her way and as she left she overheard her companion talking to herself.

"It's not _us_ I'm concerned about."

They hadn't come this far and survived this long to be taken out in a backwater hell hole in Oklahoma. Sakura was certain of that.

* * *

It never ceased to amaze Jake how this town never ever changed. It was always the same and Duke's was no exception.

"Whoa!" A familiar voice exclaimed from behind the bar. "The prodigal son has returned! How the hell are you, Jake?"

Jake smiled easily at him and reached across the bar to shake Ashby's hand. "Oh, fair to midland, I'd say."

Both men paused and Jake groaned miserably while Ashby laughed hard and loud.

"What?" Ezekiel asked. "I don't get it. What's the joke?"

"Hoss, here, just channeled his daddy in a major way," Ashby said with a final chuckle. "You ask his dad how he's doing and he always says that exact same thing."

"It just slipped out, I swear. It's this bar and this town. It brings it out in me," Jake said ruefully.

"Speakin' of your daddy," Ashby said with a somber expression. "How's he doin'? I heard he as looking pretty rough this morning."

"I haven't seen him yet. Christy said they found him passed out at the rig?" Jake asked as he once again wished Ezekiel wasn't around to over hear anything.

"Nah man, they didn't find him at the rig. They found his _truck_ at the rig. They found him about 2 or 3 miles away with barely a scrap of clothing on. Out cold and according to the sheriff, who stopped by this morning, not a trace of alcohol in his system, for once," Ashby said with a furrowed brow. "You really hadn't been by to see your folks yet?"

Jake rubbed the back of his neck with a guilty expression. "Just got back into town, man. You know how it is. The whole town wants to catch up. It's been a little crazy."

"If you say so," Ashby said with a disbelieving look as he dried a glass. "Who's your buddy?" He set the glass aside and motioned to Ezekiel.

"Ah, this is Ezekiel Jones. He's a, uh, colleague from Texas," Jake said as he cleared his throat nervously.

"You're telling me this _kid_ works at an oil refinery in Texas?" Ashby asked as he shook Ezekiel's hand. "This guy with the soft and light hands of a city slicker?"

Ezekiel snatched his hand away from Ashby with a glare. "Hey! My hands are not soft and I don't appreciate making 'light' sound like a bad thing. I've worked my whole life for 'light' hands. If I didn't have light hands how could I do this?" Ezekiel asked as he smirked and held Ashby's watch up in front of his face. "A _fake_ Rolex? I think we all know you're better than that, mate."

Ashby quickly took the watch back from Ezekiel and glared at him. "Kid, you do that again and you might get punched."

Ezekiel chuckled. "I'm not worried. You'd have to catch me first."

"Would you stop?" Jake asked Ezekiel with a huff. "Go…stand in the corner or something. Stop agitatin' people." He shoved Ezekiel toward the corner of the bar and then turned to add one last thought. "And don't touch anything!"

"What? Like there's anything here worth stealing?" Ezekiel asked with a scoff.

"Go back to what you said before," Jake said with a furrowed brow. "He wasn't drunk?" He asked as he brought the subject back to his father.

"Hadn't had a drop and as far as I knew he'd been clean for _months_. Probably since about the time you left town. He started working on the rig and stopped coming in here. Like something suddenly clicked in that thick skull of his after all these years," Ashby said with a nod. "That's why it's so odd to find him passed out like that. Besides, even when he was knock out drag out drunk he never _stripped_. Thank God. Angry drunks I can handle. Naked drunks, I cannot."

Jake looked thoughtful for a long moment and then concerned and then truly worried. "Thanks, Ashby. I'll see you later. I gotta go."

"Yeah, no problem. Next time to you come visit, though, leave the kid behind," Ashby said as he gave Ezekiel a wary glance.

Ezekiel quickly followed behind Stone as they left the bar. "What's up?" he asked.

"Go find Eve and Flynn at the diner. See if they've got those letters yet. I need to take care of something…personal," he said as he gave Ezekiel a hesitant look. "Call me if something life threatening happens. Otherwise, I'll call one of you when I'm ready to catch up."

And with that Stone was gone. Ezekiel furrowed his brow and shouted after him. "You know, aren't Americans from the South supposed to be known for their hospitality? I don't feel like you're being very hospitable right now!"

"That's the South East!" Stone yelled over his shoulder. "Welcome to the South West."

"Perfect," Jones muttered as he dialed Eve's number to find out how to get back to the diner. Eve answered on the third ring.

"What is it, Jones?"

"Colonel Baird, Grumpy the Art Historian has deserted me at a bar. Hope your having a better time of it than me," Ezekiel told her.

"Stone left you alone?" Eve asked in surprise. "He doesn't trust you as far as he can throw you."

"Tell me about it."

"We've got the letters and Cassandra set up shop at some Japanese Restaurant on Main Street. Can you make it back there on your own?" Eve asked.

Ezekiel could see the sign for Main Street from his spot outside of Duke's. "Not a problem. What do the letters say?"

"Don't know, they're in Japanese. Flynn's translating them now. We'll know by the time we reach the restaurant. See you then, Jones. Stay out of trouble," Baird said as she disconnected the call. Ezekiel sighed and began to walk toward Main Street but he stopped when he saw Christy from the Medical Center walking down the other side of the street. He'd seen a lot of stealthy people in his time. He could tell by a walk how handy someone would be in a heist. It was a gift. Christy had a swift and quiet walk. The walk of a thief or a troublemaker. Not unlike himself. It hadn't raised flags for him at the Medical Center. She'd been sitting down.

She stopped at vacant storefront and looked left and then right nervously before she unlocked the door. Definitely suspicious. Baird, Flynn, and Cassandra could wait for a little while. This was much more intriguing.

* * *

Stone marched purposefully down the street. He knew exactly where he was going and he didn't plan to stop until he got there.

And then he saw a flash of copper hair and floral patterns. He turned sharply to see a red headed woman duck around the corner of a building. His brow furrowed, "Cassie?"

Wasn't she supposed to be getting information from that Evan guy? He followed her around the corner and then down another side street. Where the hell was she going? Surely, she knew he was behind her by now. Why hadn't she stopped? Was she mad at him about earlier? Finally, she stopped inside the general store. He ducked inside and tapped her shoulder. "Cassie?" She still didn't turn around and he sighed. "Look, if this is about the Medical Center, I wasn't flirting. I swear. I was just—"

The red head turned and Jake cut his sentence off immediately.

"You're not Cassie," Jake said with an embarrassed blush. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else." The similarities were eerie though, he thought. This girl's features were slightly different but the coloring was the same. Her eyes were further apart and her nose was longer and more slender. And, something he noticed straight away that he probably shouldn't have, her lips were thinner. Specifically her bottom lip. The reasons he noticed that more than anything else didn't escape him and only caused him to blush more furiously. "You, uh, you look a lot like her. I didn't mean to bother you."

"You're no bother, Librarian. Oh, I'm sorry, you don't go by that here. Do you?" Not-Cassie asked with a quirked brow. "Jacob Stone."

He gave her a startled look and thought, _not again_. How did these people keep finding him _here_? His hometown wasn't as well hidden as he thought.


	13. Episode 03, Act 03

**Episode Three: ...And the War Within**

**by angellwings**

* * *

_Act 03: Breakthrough_

* * *

Baird and Flynn arrived at the Japanese restaurant to find Cassie looking over all of Katie's research materials that were spread all over the table.

"Find anything useful?" Baird asked Cassandra as she Flynn sat down at the table with her. Flynn was only half paying attention to the group. He was still reading over the letters.

"It's hard to make sense of her notes, honestly," Cassie answered. "And she has information on a ton of different topics. I'm not sure where to start. I'm starting to think I should have kept Evan around to help me. Anything helpful in the letters?"

Cassie and Eve turned expectantly to Flynn but he didn't seem to hear them.

"Apparently not yet," Baird said with a sigh as she craned her neck to look around the restaurant. "Has Jones gotten here? He was on his way over when we spoke a few minutes ago."

"No, I haven't seem him. Isn't he with Stone?" Cassie asked in concern.

"Stone ditched him. I was hoping to find out why once Ezekiel got here," Eve grumbled with a huff.

"These letters are useless," Flynn said with a shake of his head. "The only interesting thing about them is that they're in Japanese. He just keeps droning on about his chickens and the fox that keeps trying to eat them."

"I really should have asked Evan more questions about Katie," Cassandra said with a sigh. "These notes are about as helpful as those letters." Cassie flipped through a collection of illustrations that had been gathered in a portfolio. "While I'm wishing for things, I wish Stone were here. He'd probably know what these paintings are."

Flynn's hand flew out and stopped her from turning the page when she reached a certain illustration. He was trying to think above the noise and the phone ringing off the hook with to-go orders. Even one for a dish with extra tofu. He winced in disgust and then froze.

"_Tofu!" _Flynn yelled suddenly as he jumped up and ran to the counter. "Who just ordered that dish?"

The girl answering the phones jumped and stared at him with frightened eyes. "What?"

"The vegetarian dish with extra tofu. Who ordered it?" Flynn repeated eagerly.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I'm supposed to give out that information," she said as she blinked at him in confusion.

"Okay," Baird said as she cleared her throat and approached the counter slowly. "Let's not scare the normals, Librarian. What's going on?"

"Tofu! Foxes! People speaking new languages over night! The clues are all there! We need to know who ordered that food. They could be in danger," Flynn told her in a slightly softer tone.

"Right, so we try the small town approach. Everybody knows everybody right?" Eve asked with a confident nod as she cleared her throat to get the girls attention. "Hi," she paused and glanced at the girl's name tag. "Amelia, listen, we're friends of Jake Stone—"

"Oh!" She said with a smile. "So you're here for pick up? That was fast! I thought Mrs. Stone would be coming to pick it up."

"Mrs. Stone?" Eve asked worriedly.

"Yeah, that was Jake's mom. She was ordering dinner for Mr. Stone. She said he had a craving," Amelia said with a chuckle.

"Jake's parents ordered that dish?" Flynn asked in disbelief. "That's a lot of coincidences even for us."

"You wouldn't happen to be able to give us directions to their house would you?" Eve asked. "Still trying to gain my footing in this town."

"Sure! I'll write it out for you. Just one moment, please," Amelia said as she disappeared into the back.

"Okay, Flynn, what are we up against here? You seem to know something we're all missing," Eve asked as she leaned toward him. He sprinted back to the table and came back with the portfolio and the illustration that had distracted him earlier.

"This," he said as he handed her the portfolio.

"This is a painting of Japanese women dancing in kimonos," Eve said with a furrowed brow. "I'm not getting it."

"That painting is called 'Fox women' by Bertha Lum," he informed her as if that would explain everything. Eve stared at him expectantly when he didn't continue.

"Okay, and that means what exactly?" Eve asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Hey!" Cassandra said suddenly as she joined them with one of Katie's notebooks resting open in her hand. "Listen to this: Possessed folk are also said to speak and write languages of which they were totally ignorant prior to possession. They eat only what foxes are believed to like — tofu, aburagé, azukimeshi_,_ etc. — and they eat a great deal, alleging that not they, but the possessing foxes, are hungry. She quoted a folklorist named—"

"Lafcadio Hearn, yes I'm familiar," Flynn interrupted her. "This is bad. This is very bad."

"Foxes? That possess people? That's a _thing_?" Eve asked in shock. "Seriously?"

"Kitsune!" Cassandra exclaimed as she continued to read the entry she'd found. "She was researching kitsune!"

"And somehow she stumbled across a nogitsune. A ninko, to be exact," Flynn said with a sigh. "We are not prepared for this."

The door to the restaurant burst open and Ezekiel came sprinting into the restaurant and ran over to the group and yelled urgently, "Christy isn't Christy!"

At this point nearly everyone in the restaurant was staring at them. "Alright," Baird said with a wary look around the dining room. "Maybe we should take this outside."

Amelia came back with the directions and Eve thankfully accepted them before they all gathered Katie's research and left the restaurant. Once they were on the sidewalk she turned on Jones.

"What is this about Christy? And where the hell were you? You should have been here ages ago," Baird said with a glare.

"She's a fox thing! With like six tails! I saw her! She changed right in front of me!" Ezekiel said with a shutter. "It was _weird_. She looked like some sort of Pokémon or something. I followed her and she went into an old store front. So, I broke in and snuck around—"

"Of course you did," Cassandra said as she rolled her eyes at his casual tone.

"She had Christy locked in a closet! The real Christy! So I let her go and got her out of there and when I turned around there was fake-Christy, just standing there in the doorway staring at me and then she changed! Right in front of me!"

"You and I are going to have a long talk about you running off to do things on your own when this is over," Eve told him with a glare. "At least call me first, thief boy. And you," Eve said as she pointed at Flynn. "What's a nogitsune or ninko or whatever?"

"A demon fox spirit. When people are possessed by it they tend to speak languages they don't know and crave specific foods. Tofu is one of them. Occasionally they also foam at the mouth and act erratically. Traditionally it possesses women but I suppose that's not a _hard_ rule," Flynn said with a shrug. "If Katie is no longer with us then it could be it somehow ended up with Mr. and Mrs. Stone."

"So, that's what you think killed Katie?" Cassandra asked.

Flynn nodded gravely. "Most likely."

"And now you think Jake's parents are in trouble?" Cassandra asked with a furrowed brow.

Flynn nodded again.

"Because they ordered tofu?" Eve asked with a look of disbelief.

Flynn shrugged and nodded again. "Apparently, foxes like tofu."

"Jake ditched me after the bartender mentioned his parents," Ezekiel told them. "The bartender at Duke's told him they found his dad unconscious in a field or something this morning. That's when he started acting weird and left."

"So, if Katie was possessed by a demon fox spirit then why wasn't Christy possessed? Why kidnap her and plant a decoy at the Medical Center?" Cassandra asked in confusion. "Ezekiel said the fake Christy _changed into_ a fox. If it can possess people why not just do that?"

"Nogitsunes and _Kitsunes_ are very different. Our fake Christy sounds like a kitsune. There are similarities but they're known for causing very different kinds of trouble. A Kitsune can shape shift into human form. Again, traditionally a woman. Most likely, fake Christy is a Kitsune. Ninko are a type of Nogitsune who can only possess living things. They don't have a form of their own," Flynn informed them. "They're dangerous, and stubborn."

"So what do we do?" Ezekiel asked.

"Flynn's right. We're not prepared for this. So, we get Stone and we regroup at the Annex," Baird said as she held up the address to his parents' home. "We know where he should be. Let's ditch the research materials," Baird said as she motioned to Cassie's arms that were full of books and portfolios. "And go get him."

* * *

Jake stared at Not-Cassandra warily. He wasn't sure he was buying her story. He'd followed her out of the store and into an ally despite the warning voice in his head, but something about her (other than the fact she looked like Cassie) let him trust her just enough to be alone.

"You're telling me this nogitsune is looking for a Librarian host and the first thing it does is murder the most intelligent person in town—"

"Katie Ford was onto it. To leave her alive would leave a witness."

"Right, and then the second thing it does is snatch my dad?" He asked with a suspicious glance.

"How else would _you_ get a Librarians attention?"

He sighed and frowned at her thoughtfully. "And you. You're a kitsune? The Japanese fox spirit that's known for seducing men?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "That is not our purpose and an intelligent person like you who knows about cultures and history should already have an understanding of that. We're messengers and protectors of Inari, the fox spirit. Don't pretend to be so deft. It may work on the mortals in this town but give me the courtesy of believing _I'm _beyond that, will you?"

"Says the kitsune who purposefully chose to resemble my—my friend to get my attention," he said with a quirked brow.

She chuckled. "Friend? Is that what you think she is? That's adorable."

He huffed. "Do you have a name?"

"Sakura," she answered plainly. Her phone suddenly let out a shrill ring and she answered it quickly. She listened for a moment and then her brow furrowed. "Natsuki, Natsuki, take a breath. It's fine. Where did he go?" She paused again and Jake anxiously glanced down at his watch. He'd been sidetracked for too long. He needed to make sure his father was alright. "No, no," Sakura said with a growl. "They can't go there! They'll be walking into a trap! Yes, go! I'm on my way." She squinted at him for a moment. "I don't know how much help he'll be. He doesn't seem to believe me. But I will bring him."

She disconnected the call and then turned and ran away.

Jake blinked after her and then yelled. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"Your colleagues are headed toward your family home and are about to walk into a trap! I'm going to head them off. Feel free to join me. If you value their lives, that is," she called over her shoulder.

He sighed and set off to follow her again. Well, when she put it that way what other reaction could he have? Besides, he was headed to see his parents anyway, wasn't he?


	14. Episode 03, Act 04

**A/N: **3 more chapters to go after this one! Enjoy!

angellwings

* * *

**Episode 03: ...And the War Within**

_Act 04: Tail Tale_

* * *

Eve led the way as they reached the end of the gravel drive that led to the Stone family house. It was a large farm house with plenty of land and plenty of rooms but it could use a bit of upkeep. The paint had faded and the wrap around porch could use staining. The gardens around the house were perfectly maintained, however. Cassandra smiled at the flowers in bloom and at the house as a whole. It looked very much like Jake.

They all made their way up the front steps and just as Eve went to knock a fox ran up the steps and stopped in front of them. It was much larger than your average fox, though just as swift and quiet as you'd expect. What really made it stand apart from a regular fox was it's numerous tails. Cassandra counted six just as Ezekiel had described.

"That's her!" Ezekiel exclaimed. "That's Fake Christy!"

Eve put a hand on her gun that was clipped to her belt and backed herself and the others away.

"Fascinating," Flynn said as he attempted to step forward to look at the fox. Eve quickly grabbed the collar of his jacket to hold him still.

"Don't you dare," Eve told him. "Get out of our way," she said as she glared at the fox.

The fox then began to grow and transform in front of them and a mere second later a beautiful ebony haired Japanese woman stood in front of them with an urgent expression on her face. "I can't do that. You're walking into a trap."

"And we should believe you?" Ezekiel asked. "You kidnapped a girl and held her captive in a closet!"

"I needed a way to blend in and I needed someone your friend had a history with. We didn't hurt her," Natsuki said pleadingly. "Please, my name is Natsuki and my sister and I are here to _help you_."

"So, it is a nogitsune, then?" Flynn asked worriedly.

She nodded. "A particularly nasty one. We've been hunting it for many months now. Each time it escapes us."

"Why can't we go inside?" Cassandra asked. "If Jake's parents are in trouble then shouldn't we help them?"

"The nogitsune doesn't want his parents. It wants a Librarian. Any of you will do. Any being steeped in magic will allow it to grow stronger and maintain a vessel for more than a day or two," Natsuki told them. She pointed to Flynn and then Cassandra. "Either of you would be prime targets. You're _soaked_ in magic."

Cassandra sighed in exasperation. "Is being magical _ever_ going to be an advantage? It's been a bit of let down so far."

"I'm still not sure why you expect us to believe you," Eve said with a wary glare. "For all we know you could be working with this demon-fox and stalling for time."

"If I were stalling for time why wouldn't I just kill you? Why would I bother spinning a tale when it would take next to nothing for me to snap your neck?" Natsuki asked in irritation. "Mortals, you're all so exhausting."

The group exchanged horrified and awkward looks before Flynn cleared his throat and spoke.

"Logically, she does have a point."

The crunching of gravel could be heard from behind them and they all turned to find Jake and another woman approaching them. As they got closer Cassandra's mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed.

"Guys! We got a problem!" Jake yelled as he ran to the porch and stopped at the steps.

"Who _the hell_ is that?" Cassandra asked as she pointed at her look-a-like.

Jake glanced at Sakura and then turned to face Cassie with a sheepish face. "Um, a kitsune?"

"Who looks like _me_?" Cassandra asked him.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," Sakura said with a smirk.

"Actually, I think it says creepy stalker more than it says flattery," Ezekiel said with an amused grin. "Any particular reason you chose to _flatter_ Cassandra?"

Sakura shrugged. "I needed to get his attention. This seemed to be the form that would be the most capable of it."

Ezekiel snorted. "Tell me about it."

There was a sudden load roar from inside the house that was followed by a scream. The front door opened and a woman in her early sixties came running from the house. She had dark brown hair and wide frightened blue eyes. The resemblance between her and Stone was very clear.

"Mom!" Jake yelled as he ran up the steps and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled away and then checked her over for any injuries. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"It's—It's your father, he's…I don't know what he is but he's not…" Her sentence trailed away and her eyes watered before she embraced her oldest son tightly. "What is happening, Jacob?"

Another roar sounded from inside the house and Jake used one arm to pull his mom away from the door and then other to back Cassandra down the stairs. Eve stepped out in front of all of them with her gun raised to the door.

"Just a guess, but is that the nogitsune everyone keeps talking about?" Eve asked. "The thing that's roaring like some bloodthirsty monster?"

"Yes," Natsuki told her with a nod.

"Oh, fun," Eve said sarcastically. "This just keeps getting better."

"Gaurdian?" Flynn asked with a feigned lightness.

"Yes, Librarian?" She asked as the group backed down the steps and away from the porch.

"As we know next to nothing about how to defend ourselves against this creature, I highly suggest we regroup and reassess," He said with a nervous gulp.

"I second that suggestion," Ezekiel said as he hid behind the railing of the porch.

"Right, good plan," Eve said as she kept a watch on the door with her gun pointed ahead of her. "Everyone, back to the Door! Now!"

They all turned and ran except for Jake and Mrs. Stone. Jake stared at the open door with concern and moved to go up the steps again but Mrs. Stone tugged on his arm. "Jacob…don't. He wasn't himself. You can't go in there alone."

"We can't just leave him," Jake said as he swallowed thickly.

Cassandra stopped when she noticed Jake wasn't with the group and came back for the two of them. Cassandra placed a hand on his other arm and he immediately turned to meet her eyes. She shook her head but gave him a sympathetic look.

"No one is going anywhere alone," she said with a soft grin as she repeated his words to her from earlier that day. "Jake, we'll come back. We're not leaving him forever," she said softly. "We just need to figure out how to save him first. We've got to have a plan. Please, let's go."

He nodded hesitantly and allowed her to lead him away. Mrs. Stone followed closely with an interested expression. What had her son been up to while he was away? And who were these people that seemed to know him so well?

* * *

"The diner?" Mrs. Stone asked. "We're retreating to the diner?"

Eve and Flynn gave her a startled look as if they'd just remembered her presence.

"Um, Stone?" Flynn asked leadingly. He was asking whether he thought they should take her with them.

Cassandra saved him the trouble of answering. "We can't leave her here alone. We have to take her with us."

Jake gave her a grateful smile and nodded. "I'm not leaving unless I know she's safe."

"Alright," Eve said with a nod. "Then you may want to break it to her now. Might be a bit of a shock."

"Wait," Ezekiel said in confusion. "Can she even go through the Door? I thought only people who came from the Door or exceptionally magical people could go through the Door?"

"What is this door yall keep talking about?" Mrs. Stone asked with a huff. "And take me where?"

"Mom," Jake said softly as he pulled her aside. "Y'know how I told you and dad I was in Texas? Well…I wasn't."

"Oh we knew that, sweetie. We heard from your dad's friend Sam about a week after you left, you know the one who works there, and he was very firm that he'd not seen hide nor hair of you," She told him gently.

He blinked at her. "You knew? You and dad knew that I was…lying?"

"Of course we did. Honey, you're not a very good liar," she told him with a shake of her head. "I could always tell when you snuck out to go where ever it was you used to go. You were nervous for hours before."

Cassandra grinned at him and suppressed a chuckle. "With the cover stories you make up for us sometimes I believe it."

"Cover stories," Mrs. Stone said with a perceptive stare at her oldest son. "Jacob Stone, what have you been up to?"

"Yes, _Jacob_, what have you been up to?" Ezekiel asked him with a pointed smirk.

"You, young man, you stay out of this," Mrs. Stone told him sternly. "I know a trouble maker when I see one."

This time Cassandra really did laugh. Ezekiel looked startled and glanced down at the ground sheepishly. For that reaction alone, Cassandra decided she liked Jake's mother.

"Mom," Jake said with a small smile. "I'm a Librarian."

Her brow furrowed. "A Librarian who needs cover stories? Jacob, you tell me the truth right now."

"If you know when I'm lying then shouldn't you know if I'm telling the truth?" He asked her. "I am a Librarian, just…not a traditional one."

"Maybe," Flynn said as he interrupted. "It's best if we show you. Mrs. Stone?" Flynn asked as he offered her his arm. "Allow me."

"What about the Door?" Cassandra asked worriedly. "Did we decide if we could take additional people through?"

"Or if we _should_ take additional people through," Eve said as she gave Sakura and Natsuki anxious glances.

"I have enough magic in me to share," Flynn said with a grin. "So does Cassandra for that matter. The Door will allow for additional travelers. Mrs. Stone just needs a proper escort."

Mrs. Stone smiled warmly at him and patted Flynn's cheek before she accepted his arm. "Now, you, I like. Charming."

Eve chuckled. "You have no idea."

Flynn led Mrs. Stone through the diner ahead of them.

Cassandra then turned to Eve and spoke quietly, "Are we taking _them_?" She nodded her head toward Natsuki and Sakura. "Also, the fact that _she_ still looks like me is seriously weirding me out."

"The question is," Eve asked her. "Do we need them? Because if we can make a solid plan without them I'd rather leave them here."

"They've been hunting this nogitsune, haven't they?" Cassandra asked.

Jake heard them whispering and leaned toward them. "Not just this one. This is what they _do_. Sakura told me."

Cassandra quirked a brow at him. "Did she? What else did she tell you?" She asked in a snippy tone.

Now that Ezekiel had told him about Cassandra's jealousy he could definitely hear it. "Just things regarding the case. That's all."

Eve sighed. "So, we need them. Damn it." She then turned to the women and nodded toward the diner. "Alright, Foxy and Loxy, you're with us. You make one wrong move, and I don't care how immortal you are I _will_ shoot you. Got it?"

Sakura nodded and her copper hair shined in the Oklahoma sun. "Got it."

Jake walked on ahead with Eve. Ezekiel, Cassandra, and the sisters brought up the rear.

"Okay," Cassandra said with an irritated huff as she waved a hand at Sakura while they walked. "Can you…_change_ or something because you're really freaking me out."

Sakura bowed her head briefly before she waved a hand down the length of her torso and her appearance faded into a slender raven haired woman who was close to identical to Natsuki. "Better?" She asked as they stopped at the front door to the diner.

Cassandra let out a relieve breath and nodded. "Yes, thank you." Ezekiel opened the door for them with a chuckled and Cassandra glared at him. She turned to the sisters as they approached the door to the kitchen. "So, if someone magical who previously went through the door had to escort Mrs. Stone I suppose that means I have to escort the two of you." She nodded for them to follow her. "So, come on then, let's go."

"Jenkins is gonna love this," Ezekiel said with a chuckle as he walked through the door behind them.


	15. Episode 03, Act 05

And the Possibilities

by angellwings

Episode 03: ...And the War Within

* * *

Act 05: Regroup

* * *

The back door opened, Flynn walked through with an older woman on his arm, and Jenkins furrowed his brow. Since when were they in the habit of bringing people back to the Annex? He made a harrumphing sound under his breath and crossed his arms before he leaned against a nearby wooden podium and glowered at The Librarian. He was just changing all the rules, wasn't he? Then Baird and Stone followed them through and that's when Jenkins noticed the resemblance between the woman and Stone. He raised a brow at that and smirked. Now things were getting interesting. He still didn't approve but at least this was intriguing. Stone's worlds were finally colliding.

Lastly, Cassandra and Ezekiel appeared with two strikingly beautiful women holding onto Cassie's Jacket as they walked through the door. Jenkins's grin fell and his palms began to sweat nervously. He immediately tried to slink back into his lab. How ironic. He'd been enjoying Stone's worlds colliding but the idea of his colliding was _not_ enjoyable at all.

"Galeas?"

He froze and bit back a curse. He was hoping to hide in his lab before he was seen.

All heads turned toward Sakura as she stared curiously at Jenkins. "It _is_ you! You found the Library, after all!"

Jenkins turned slowly and nearly grumbled at the sight of Mr. Stone smirking at him.

"The Lady Sakura," he said with a small bow. "How many years has it been?" he asked politely.

"To say would reveal my age and I'd rather not," she answered with a chuckle.

"I am well acquainted with that feeling," he agreed.

"I'm sorry, how do you know Jenkins?" Stone asked, almost gleefully. He hadn't missed Jenkins smirk when he'd recognized the family resemblance earlier.

"Mr. Carsen," Jenkins said loudly. "What lovely creature have you brought with you through our _private_ door?" He turned a pointed look at Stone and silently warned him that two could play this game.

"Mr. Jenkins, this is Mrs. Stone. Mr. Stone's mother," Flynn introduced.

"I know this place isn't stashed in the back of Merle's Diner," Mrs. Stone said as she glanced around the Annex with wide eyes.

"No, it's not," Jones said with a grin. "When you walked through that door you arrived in Portland, Oregon."

"What?" She asked in surprise. "I'm on the other side of the country? That's not possible."

"Actually, mom, it is," Jake told her as he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "It's…" he paused and sighed hopelessly. She was going to think he was crazy. "Magic."

"Magic is not real, Jacob," his mother said. Though she didn't look like she believed her own words.

Cassandra cleared her throat and held out her palm expectantly. In a flash her notebook flew across the room and landed in her hand. "Actually, it kind of is." She grinned proudly at Mrs. Stone.

Jake's mother blinked at her in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"Magic, Mrs. Stone," Flynn told her with a kind smile.

"Magic is real," she repeated to herself. She looked form Cassandra to Jacob. "Can you do that?"

He smiled fondly at Cassandra and then shook his head at his mother. "No, that's Cassie's thing."

"And science and math. Don't forget the science and math," Cassie added eagerly.

"And the occasional hallucination," Jones added for good measure.

"Yes," Cassie sneered at him. "Thanks for that reminder."

"And what's your thing, sweetie?" His mother asked Jacob curiously.

The moment of truth, he thought with a nervous gulp. "Art History, architecture."

"Anthropology," Cassandra added for him with a proud grin.

He chuckled and shrugged. "Sometimes. Not my best subject though. I dabble."

"All those times you snuck out of the house when you were in school, it wasn't to go off drinking with your buddies, was it?" She asked in what looked like relief.

"No, mom," he said with a confused glance. "It wasn't."

"And all that time you used to lock yourself up in your room…"

"Studying, writing, reading. Whatever I could get my hands on," he told her.

"Why on God's Green Earth would you hide _that_?" Mrs. Stone asked him. "Do you know how many different _horrible_ things I imagined you doing when you snuck out of the house or locked yourself in your room? God, if I'd have known you were studying I wouldn't have worried so much." She left Flynn's side to stand in front of her son. She pointed an accusing finger at him. "No more lying. I don't care how old you are, I will ground you. Understood?"

Eve chuckled and smiled at the woman. "Oh, I do like you, Mrs. Stone."

"It wasn't you I was worried about, mom," Jake told her honestly as he ignored Baird.

Realization flashed across her features. "I see. Well, at the time you may have had a valid point." She reached for him and pulled her to him. "I'm sorry, Jacob. I'm truly sorry." She hugged him tightly and reached a hand up to pat the back of his had comfortingly. "You should never have had to hide who you are from us."

He was stunned. Stunned beyond his capacity for anything else. He returned her embrace and held her tightly too. They stayed like that for a long moment and he'd forgotten his colleagues were watching them. She pulled back and then placed a hand on either side of his face and smiled gently at him before she whispered, "Just how _smart_ are you?"

He laughed and even to his ears the laugh sounded soggy. His eyes were bit watery and so he cleared his throat to make sure it didn't show in his voice. "My IQ is 190."

"Well, I'll be. My boy's a genius, and my mother-in-law said my kids would never amount to anything," Mrs. Stone said with a smirk before she glanced down at the floor. "Who's laughing now, Irma? Huh?"

Jake laughed again and patted his mother's hands that were still on his face. "Mom, Grandma's been gone for 15 years. I don't think you have to prove anything to her anymore."

"I know," she told him. "Still fun to rub it in, though. Let me have this."

He pulled her hands form his face and hugged her one last time before he remembered where they were and why he was having to confess everything to her to begin with. They were here to save his father. His _dad_ was in danger. They had their issues, but he didn't deserve to be worn like a meat suit by a Japanese Fox Demon. No one did.

"So," Cassandra said once the moment had passed. She quickly gave Stone a stellar smile and he returned it with a softer one. "How do we get rid of this thing?" She aimed that question at Sakura and Natsuki.

"You can't," Sakura answered. "Nogitsune cannot be destroyed."

"But we can exorcise it," Natsuki added. "We just don't have anything strong enough to hold this one. Our usual scrolls won't do. We tried that already."

"No, we can't. We can't exorcise this one," Sakura corrected her. "With a weaker nogitsune we could but this one is exceptionally strong. We won't be able to force it out of it's host. It will need to come out willingly. Which it won't do for anyone but a Librarian and then we would need to find something strong enough to hold it. The only possible things that are strong enough to hold it have been lost for centuries and would take us months to find. We don't have months."

"Lost," Jenkins offered. "Or stored away? It's possible we have something in the Library that could be of use. But once you draw it out, how do you keep it still long enough to capture it?"

"I could do it," Cassandra said as she raised her hand. "I've been practicing keeping things suspended in mid air. I could hold it."

"Cassie," Jake said in concern. "This is a little different than me throwing a book at you and seeing if your powers can catch it. You don't know what would happen."

"Trust me, Jake, if you have a better idea I'm all ears," Cassandra said. "I'm not exactly looking forward to facing a fox demon."

He looked around at the other geniuses in the room but no one else seemed to have any ideas either. He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Fine, but if you're holding it then I'm drawing it out. It came to Owayne for me, didn't it? I think I should face this bastard for myself."

"No, no!" Eve said with a sigh. "I do not like this plan. You can't go in there. Not alone. That's what it wants."

"Colonel Baird," Jake said pleadingly. "It has my dad. I have to do this."

Eve let out a short and low growl before she threw her hands up in the air in resignation. "Fine. Do what you want. Who needs a Guardian anyway?" She turned and left headed toward the Annex's exit and Flynn watched her go worriedly. He then turned to Jenkins. "Jenkins, you, Sakura, and Natsuki need to search the library for anything we can use to trap the Ninko. If you need additional help let us know. Time is of the essence. We need to find something fast."

Jenkins nodded. "I will work quickly and thoroughly." He turned the Globe by the door and then motioned for the sisters to follow him as he opened the door to the main Library. "Ladies, let's begin."

"Cassandra, I want you to practice your magic like you've never practiced before. Understand? I do not plan on losing any of you today," Flynn told his three Librarians before he turned and raced after Eve.

There was a tense silence left in Eve's wake and after a long silence Jake's mom leaned toward him and nodded her head toward Cassandra before she whispered. "So, is that the girl you like?"

He grinned and chuckled. His mother would always be his mother. Even in a crisis.

* * *

Flynn found Eve outside of the building leaning against the wall by the door. She had her arms crossed and she was glaring at the sky above them.

"Why do Librarians even have Guardians?" Eve asked as she shook her head. She knew he was there before he'd even stepped out of the door. "You all seem determined to do things without one."

"They need you. You know they do," Flynn told her softly as he leaned on the wall next to her.

"Do they?" She said doubtfully. "Jones has faced dangerous situations on his own for years. Cassandra has magic now. And Stone has gotten better at fighting smarter. The only thing I offer is my gun and half the time it doesn't even work on the things we face."

"And to think, last week you were worried about having too much work," Flynn said as he attempted a joke. The look Eve gave him told him she did not find him amusing. He cleared his throat and quickly grew serious again. "You're still needed. Jones would still rather hide or run than fight but he's not going to leave Cassandra or Stone behind. Ever. That makes him vulnerable. After all, he doesn't do punchy, remember? And Cassandra's magic is unstable at best. She's learning but she's extremely far away from being able to consistently defend herself with it. And Stone, well, he can't protect himself and the other two. But you know he'd try. They're best when they work together, when they can watch each other's backs, but they still can't handle it all on their own. They need you. If only to offer them guidance and save them from themselves. You helped make them as strong as they are now, but there's still plenty more that you can teach them." He said as he reached over and held her hand in his. He linked their fingers together and then brought the back of her hand to his lips. "And they're not the only ones. I know there's more I have to learn. You've already taught me one very important lesson."

"And what's that?" she asked as he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her waist.

He took a deep breath and then smiled warmly at her. "That maybe I do need a family, after all."

She smirked at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You are working really hard at earning some serious brownie points."

"How am I doing so far?" He asked with a grin.

"Exceptionally well," she told him. "You definitely have an excess balance of them."

"Good, because if we're going to be living together I feel like I'm going to need them," he said with a chuckle. "A lot of them."

"Shut up and kiss me, Librarian," Eve said with a chuckle.

"If you insist, Guardian," Flynn said as he closed the distance between them and kissed her deeply. Oh yes, having a Guardian was definitely an improvement to the solitary existence he'd had before.

* * *

"What am I supposed to do while you and Stone are off playing the heroes?" Jones asked Cassandra with a pout.

Cassandra turned to him curiously. "Do _you_ want to face the fox demon?"

"Not particularly, but I don't wanna just stand there while you two get all the glory," he grumbled.

"Hey, troublemaker," Mrs. Stone said with a glare. "You leave that girl alone. She's practicing. In fact, why don't you show me where the kitchen in this place is so I can make coffee or sandwiches or something. How long has it been since any of you have eaten, anyway?" When Ezekiel didn't move she tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, come on then. Move," she said as she took a step forward and pointed a stern motherly stare on him.

Ezekiel hesitantly moved away from Cassandra and led Mrs. Stone toward the kitchen with a disagreeable sulk in his step. Cassandra was grateful for it. Jones had been talking in her ear non-stop since Baird had stormed off. She loved the kid like a brother but he'd been giving her a headache that she really didn't need.

"You'll be fine, Cass," Jake suddenly said as he approached her. "I'll be there if you need me."

She smiled serenely at him and nodded. "I know. You always are. I wish you'd let me do the same for you sometime."

"What are you talking about? You've got my back on every case. I know that," he told her with a furrowed brow.

"That's not the same, Jacob," she said with a sigh. "You're always here for me when I'm dealing with my weakness," she said as she tapped her temple. "But you won't let me help you with yours. I really wish you'd lean on me just a little."

"I know. I want to. I just…I can't get used to having someone to share this with. In my head I still have to keep things separate. It's the only thing I've known and it's…it's an instinct at this point," he told her honestly. "It's something I have to work at."

"You mom reacted fairly well," Cassie told him with a smile.

He looked relieved and took a long contented breath. "Yes, very well, actually. But I was never really worried about her reaction. I never told her because I didn't want her to have to lie for me or deal with the guilt of not being _able_ to lie for me."

"Still, it must be nice to know that someone in your family knows now," she said hopefully. "There's one less person you have to hide from in the world. And maybe someday, you won't feel like you have to hide from anyone."

He smiled softly at her. "You have an awful lot of faith in me."

She bit her bottom lip shyly before she spoke again. "I just don't think someone who knows what you know should have to hide from it. Your knowledge is beautiful and not just because you study art. You know about people and architecture. You know about the things that shape and fill the world. You should be able to share all of that. You've got too much to offer to keep it all to yourself, that's all."

He stared at her in amazement for a long moment. No one had ever said anything like that to him. At least no one who wasn't already involved in the Art History field. They had complete opposite specialties and yet here she was telling him that his gift was beautiful. But she was the girl who _experienced_ math and science. She didn't just do it. She saw it, tasted it, smelled it, and heard it. She _felt it_. To him, _that_ was beautiful. She was beautiful.

"What?" She asked him with wide eyes.

Did he say that out loud? "What?" He asked cluelessly.

"Did you just call me beautiful?" Cassie asked with a pretty blush.

The soft smile and the blush made him forget any thought of denying it. Instead he decided to lean into it. He smiled bashfully at her and then nodded. "Well, you are. You absolutely are."

She approached him and didn't stop until she was only a few inches away. She focused her eyes on his and smiled brightly at him. "Jake…"

She paused and he held his breath. "Yes?"

"I've been thinking—"

"We found it!" Jenkins said as the Back Door flew open and he and the sisters entered the room.

Jake sighed irritably at the interuption but turned to face the old man to see just what he had found and was surprised to see him holding a long thin mirror with an ornate gold frame. Jake tilted his head thoughtfully at the sight of the frame and the reflective quality of the glass. "Is that a 16th century Venetian mirror?"

"_Queen Mary the First's_ Venetian mirror, actually, Mr. Stone," Jenkins said proudly. "The same mirror that started that nasty Bloody Mary mess. Her spirit was trapped in here for hundreds of years."

"So, we can trap the nogitsune in the mirror?" Cassandra asked. "How?"

"This mirror was created to capture and reveal spirits. It will do all the work," Jenkins told her. "Someone simply needs to make sure the demon is reflected in the glass."

"Sounds easy enough," Jake said with a shrug.

Natsuki laughed. "Have you ever tried to catch a demon's reflection, Mr. Stone?"

"No, I can't say I have," He said with a glare. The laughter was not appreciated.

"It takes stealth and cunning and an incredible amount of luck," Natsuki told him.

Cassandra let out a loud chortling laugh and then lightly elbowed Stone. "Who do we know that fits that description?"

Stone smirked and chuckled. "Looks like we found something for Jones to do, after all."


	16. Episode 03, Act 06

And the Possibilities

by angellwings

Episode 03: ...And the War Within

* * *

Act 06: Trap

* * *

"Why do I get the most life threatening part?" Ezekiel asked with a pout.

Jake smirked at him. "Because you're awesome. Remember?"

Ezekiel narrowed his eyes at him. "You've been waiting for the right moment to use that against me, haven't you?"

"Odds are I was bound to get a chance sometime," Jake said with a grin.

"Besides," Cassandra said with a roll of her eyes. "We're all doing something dangerous. Jake is risking being possessed by the thing," Cassie said nervously. "And I'm using magic that I'm not sure I have a complete handle on yet, which could go horribly for all of us. So, you know, if it ends bad it's most likely my fault."

"It won't be your fault, Cass. Even if we fail, which we won't, it won't be because of you," Jake told her with a determined nod. He shot a grin at Ezekiel. "It'll be because of Jones."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Stone," Ezekiel said with a sigh.

"My pleasure."

"Yes, this is a solid plan," Eve said through gritted teeth. "A solid plan to complete without a Guardian." Sarcasm dripped off of her words.

"Dear," Mrs. Stone said quietly as she placed a hand on Eve's arm. "Could you do anything to help them fight it?" She asked knowingly. Eve sighed and shook her head. "Could you shoot it?" Eve gave the woman a small grin and then shook her head again. "Then stop beating yourself up about it. Just be here if they need you. That's all you can do."

Eve took a deep calming breath and nodded. "Thanks, Mrs. Stone."

"Please, call me Debbie," she said kindly.

"Well, this is encouraging," Natsuki said as she glanced over the group in annoyance. "It's a wonder you all manage to work together in any capacity whatsoever." Sakura elbowed her sister and gave her a scolding glare. "What?" Natsuki asked her defensively. "We were both thinking it."

"They'll pull through when it counts," Flynn said with a chuckle. "They always do."

"Amazingly enough," Jenkins added in exasperation as he set the door. "If one of you is possessed by an evil Japanese fox demon please do not bring it into my Annex."

"Our Annex," Ezekiel corrected him.

Jenkins mouth almost formed a smile before he nodded and said, "our Annex. I tried to move the door to a more accessible location. Though, I can't make any guarantees." He motioned to the door and handed Mr. Jones the tall thin Venetian mirror before the group walked through the door to head back to Owayne.

Flynn was the last one out and turned back to see where the door had dropped them off. They had still walked into the diner, but this time they'd come out of the restroom. Flynn chuckled as a few patrons gave them strange looks. There was only one small restroom with no stall in the place. No wonder they were giving them strange looks.

The looks didn't stop either. They must have looked like an odd group to these people. Walking down the sidewalk with a large ornate mirror on tow. Stone's cover in this town was most likely all but blown. Though, Flynn supposed Jake was so concerned about his father that he hadn't noticed just yet. They stopped at the Japanese restaurant they'd been at before to pick up the food the Stones had ordered before they headed toward the house.

They made it to the Stone Family home. The door was still cracked open. Eve pushed it open warily, before anyone else could attempt to go first. She motioned with a closed fist for the others to stay at the door as she cleared the first floor. She waved them all in once that was done and the group invaded the living room. The home was simply furnished and full of family photos and knick knacks. Nothing down stairs had been disturbed.

Mrs. Stone turned to Jake. "He must still be upstairs where I left him." Her eyes fearfully looked toward the stairs. "He was snarling and foaming at the mouth, and his eyes…they weren't his eyes."

Jake placed a hand on his mother's back and gave her a quick hug. "Don't worry, mom. We've got this. Stay here?"

"I've got her," Eve told him with a small smile. "Ash, Kristofferson, you're down here with me," she told Sakura and Natsuki as she motioned to them. The sisters traded confused glances.

Sakura leaned toward Natsuki and whispered, "Does she not remember our names?"

Eve sighed. "It's a reference to—you know what, never mind. Just stay down here with me. We'll keep Mrs. Stone in the kitchen. It's only open on one side, we can defend it easier. Flynn, stay by the door. If this goes bad we'll need to try and keep it contained to the house."

She waited for everyone to nod in acknowledgement before she nodded at the three Junior Librarians. She handed Cassandra the take out container they'd picked up on the way to the house.

"Ganbatte," Natsuki said quickly as they started up the steps.

Stone gave her a small grateful smile and replied. "Un, ganabaru."

"What was that?" Ezekiel asked Stone with a furrowed brow as he followed him up the stairs.

"It's Japanese. It means 'do your best.' It's the equivalent of wishing someone good luck, basically," he told the thief. They walked up the stairs and down the hall with quiet foot steps and then stopped outside of the bedroom at the end of the hall. "This is their room," Jake told them. He glanced to Cassie first and then Ezekiel. "Ready?"

Cassie nodded and took a deep nervous breath.

"Let's do this," Ezekiel said as he gripped the mirror tighter. "The sooner we finish this, the sooner I can put this down. My arms are getting tired."

Jake rolled his eyes and shook his head before he placed a hand on the doorknob. Cassie placed a hand over his to get his attention. He turned to look at her expectantly.

"Please, be careful," she told him quietly.

He smiled warmly at her for a moment before he nodded and answered. "You too."

Ezekiel grinned at the both of them secretively and shook his head. Could they be more obvious?

Jake cautiously opened the door and took the take out container from Cassie. He opened it and held it out in front of him. The man lying in bed was definitely not his father anymore. His eyes were black, he was drooling and snarling, and foaming at the mouth. Exactly as Mrs. Stone had said. He was also surrounded by tons of empty bowls and empty cans. His clothes and the bed sheets were covered in food stains.

"Apparently, nogitsunes like to stuff their faces," Ezekiel said with a disgusted face.

"The cans are all beans," Cassandra said observantly as they edged their way toward the bed. Something rustled under her foot and Mr. Stone's head jerked toward them. Cassandra gasped and all three of them froze. She glanced down to see an empty bag of black eyed peas under her foot. "Yeah, this thing definitely has a thing for beans," Cassie whispered. It's dark gaze focused on Cassandra and it followed her as if she were the only person in the room. "Okay, that's creepy."

"Natsuki did say it would want the most magical being it could find," Ezekiel reminded her.

Jake glared at the thing in his father's body. "Yeah, well, that's not happening." He shook the food container at it and it's stare moved from Cassandra to Jake. "You smell that? I'm sure you do. Somebody told us you liked tofu. That true? I know you didn't find any in this house. The guy you're using wouldn't be caught dead eating tofu."

It sniffed the air and snarled as it moved toward the edge of the bed.

"Somebody also told us you wanted a Librarian," Jake said as he stepped closer to the bed. "Well, you got three, jackass. Why don't you come on out of there and pick one of us instead of using him. Huh?"

Cassie watched Jake approach him nervously. She couldn't help but imagine Jake being possessed by that thing in place of his father. His father who looked exactly like a middle aged version of Jake and who would look sickly and weak if he wasn't for the terrifying black eyes and the foaming mouth and the unnaturally feral way he moved. She fisted her hands and watched both men closely and waited for any signs the nogitsune was leaving Mr. Stone's body.

Those black eyes zeroed in on Jake and then slowly Mr. Stone's body went limp and a black cloud of smoke appeared in the room. Cassandra immediately held up her hands and focused all her energy on holding it in place. She felt it struggling against her powers and winced in pain. She forced herself to visualize Jake or Ezekiel being possessed as a result of her failure and that seemed to spur her on. Knowing what she could lose made her fight harder. She would not fail. She would not let one of her friends be this things next victim. She refused. She barely registered Ezekiel sprinting forward with the mirror. The cloud lunged at the shimmering fuschia shield Cassandra had built around it and she took a deep breath to hold it steady.

She could hear someone calling her name but she couldn't seem to attach it to anyone in the room. She felt like she was floating away. The ceiling fan in the room caught her attention and suddenly she could see the math for the number of rotations per second in front of her. Shit. Now is not the time, she told herself. A strangled cry escaped her lips and then suddenly there was a hand on the small of her back and breath on her neck.

"Cassandra," she could hear Jake say soothingly. "You can let it go now. Ezekiel's ready with the mirror." She heard him but she couldn't seem to move. She was too terrified of failing. He reached out and placed another hand on her wrist. "Darlin', trust me. Trust Ezekiel. You gotta let the thing go."

She closed her eyes and fisted her hands and cut the connection to the magic holding the nogitsune in place. She collapsed against Stone and a blinding light filled the room as Ezekiel trapped the spirit in the mirror. Ezekiel snatched a quilt off the bed and quickly covered the reflective surface of the mirror and then ran to check on Mr. Stone who was passed out on the bed. Jake steadied Cassie and then turned her to look at him.

She had really scared him for a moment there. He and Ezekiel both had been yelling for her to let the nogitsune go for several minutes before he'd finally made his way to her. Her eyes had been unfocused and lost and a small drop of blood had trickled from her nose. He knew then he had to do something. This time she'd heard him and come back from whatever was happening in her mind.

"You okay, Cassie?" He asked as he searched her eyes. She looked foggy and dazed but she managed to nod slowly. He walked her over to the arm chair in the corner and sat her down. "It's over, sweetheart," he said soothingly. "We got it. Stay here. I'm gonna go check on my dad, okay?"

She nodded again and took a deep breath as Jake left her side. He gave her hesitant worried glances during the short walk to his father's side and then immediately sent Ezekiel to sit with Cassandra.

"He's got a pulse," Ezekiel told him. "He's definitely alive. But we should probably call an ambulance just in case."

Jake nodded. "You guys get that mirror back to the Library. I'll take care of this."

Ezekiel pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket as he reached Cassandra and handed it to her. She silently took it and held it to her nose. Ezekiel picked up the mirror, careful to keep it covered with the quilt and then used his other hand to help Cassandra up and steady her. She was still a bit wobbly on her feet. Jake watched them go worriedly before he turned back to his father and propped him up against the headboard.

He sighed and looked at his mess of a father. "How ya doin', dad? Better now, probably, right?"

There was no response and Jake smiled sadly at him before he squeezed one of his father's limp hands. He could hear his mother clamoring up the stairs as Jake reached for the house phone to call for an ambulance. Ezekiel was right, once again. His dad needed to be checked out for any complications. None of them really knew what this thing might have done to him. His mother ran into the room and Jake stood up from the bed to let her take his place next to Mr. Stone. He wandered down the stairs with the phone to his ear. Eve and Flynn nodded to him as they ushered everyone out of his house. It was best that all evidence of the Library and the Librarians weren't here when the paramedics arrived.

They returned to the Annex without Jake and Jenkins immediately stored the mirror, under a more firm covering, in the Library's vault for the truly dangerous objects. Since the last break-in the Library had created a separate room with more thorough protection for anything that might cause mass destruction on an apocalyptic level.

"Thank you all for your help," Sakura told them with a bow of her head. "We knew the Librarians would be here for us when we needed them."

"Next time," Eve said sternly. "Try just asking us for help. Let's keep the kidnapping at a minimum, okay?"

Natsuki smirked and nodded. "I think we can manage that."

Sakura then turned and smiled coyly at Jenkins. "Galeas."

He gave her a curious look.

She handed him a card and winked at him. "In case you ever need us to return the favor, you can reach us here. Or if you ever just want to get together and reminisce."

Flynn's eyebrows flew upward at that and he gave Eve a startled look.

"I've earned my ninth tail since we saw each other last and you know how many years that takes. It's been far too long. Don't let it be that long again," Sakura said with a smirk.

Jenkins gulped nervously and tugged at his tie. "I will certainly keep that in mind, Lady Sakura." He bowed his head to her and she chuckled at him.

"Always so formal," Sakura said with a chuckle. "Come, Natsuki. We should go."

"It has been an honor to meet all of you," Natsuki told them all with a smile. "Next time we meet I hope it will be under happier circumstances."

And with that the women turned and left the Annex. Ezekiel immediately turned to Jenkins with a grin.

"Good on ya, Jenkins. I think that kitsune has a thing for you," Ezekiel told him.

"She is certainly very foxy," Flynn added with a smirk.

"Oh, honey, no," Eve said with a shake of her head. "No fox puns. Please."

"But—"

"Just don't," Eve said with a grin. "Trust me."

Cassandra had been strangely quiet through the whole exchange but she suddenly cleared her throat and spoke up softly. "If anyone needs me I'll be upstairs."

They all watched her leave with worried expressions. Ezekiel slowly followed after her. He chose not to say anything until they'd made it to a far corner of the mezzanine.

"You okay, kid?" He asked as he sat down next to her at a small table.

"I almost lost myself out there today," she told him honestly. "I could feel my mind slipping away. I—It was terrifying. My mind started trying to do math and magic all at once and I couldn't get a grip on what was happening in the room around me. It was like something out of my nightmares. Me, trapped in my own mind. If it wasn't for Jake…"

"Yeah, he helps a lot with," Ezekiel paused and gently tapped her temple. "That. Doesn't' he? It's always been that way."

"I don't know why or how, but yes. He gets through when nothing else does," she admitted.

"Must be nice," Ezekiel said as he bumped her shoulder playfully. "To have someone just…understand. Some of us never get that."

She blinked at him for a long moment as she thought about his words. "I've never looked at it that way before."

"I'm going to admit something to you that I will deny if you ever tell anyone else," Ezekiel said as he leaned back in his chair.

Cassandra nodded and smiled at him. "I understand."

"I'm a little jealous."

She gave him a startled look.

"Not like that, no. I'm jealous of the connection the two of you have. It's—well the only word I can think of is—magical. From day one, even if there were some complications at the start, it was there. Never seen anything like it before for myself," he told her. "Don't think I'll ever have it for myself, either, so sometimes I get a little jealous of it. Plus, you're my favorite of everyone here, and I know that when the day comes that you and Stone actually get your acts together I'll see less of you. So that plays a factor in that jealousy too. Never really had a friend before you, Cass."

She smiled warmly at her younger friend and then scooted her chair closer to his. She leaned back like him and then rested her head on his shoulder. "You were my first friend in a very long time, Ezekiel. No matter what else happens that will always be the case."

Jake's dad had come to while the paramedics were checking him out. They'd given him a clean bill of health. They said he was suffering from fatigue and exhaustion and recommended he get several days rest. Everyone was now leaving and soon it would be just himself, his dad, and his mother in the house. Which would lave Jake to face his lies and his father. Even after everything they'd just went through he was still terrified. He could face down an actual demon but the demons of his own past were a completely different story.

"How ya feeling, dad?" He asked once the three of them were alone.

"Like I had something evil bouncing around in my skull for a day," he said as he took a couple of Tylenol. "Which apparently I did. Go figure."

Mrs. Stone smiled gently at him and settled into the bed next to him. She placed a kiss on his temple. "Glad you're back."

"Me too," he said with a weak smile. He turned to face Jake with a genuine curious glance. "How are you, son?"

Jake bit back his instinct to scoff and respond sarcastically. He'd had an attitude with his father since he turned 18. If he didn't respect then man then why should he act like it? "Pretty good, actually. Mom tells me you guys knew I wasn't in Texas."

"You've never been the best liar," his dad said honestly.

"So I've been told," he grumbled.

"Is this the part where you tell us the truth about where you've been?" Sam asked with a quirked brow and a parental stare.

"Sam," Debbie said with a scolding glare.

Sam huffed and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…keep going, Jacob."

"I'm working in Portland, Oregon," Jake said with a sigh. This wasn't off to the best start. "I'm a Librarian."

"A…Librarian?" Sam asked with a doubtful tone.

"And an Art Historian."

"An…Art Historian? Since when?" Sam asked in a raised voice.

"Sam," Debbie said again as she pinched her husband's arm. He winced and then took a deep breath. She stood from the bed and then leaned against the wall by the door. She could see the argument coming.

"I studied any chance I got, that's how," Jake said with a glare. "While you were out drinkin' and trying to turn me into you I was here or at the school library studying my ass off. Learning about things you could never understand, things you wouldn't appreciate. Beauty, art, culture. The world beyond this suffocating town—"

"Suffocating town? Our family built this town. This town is in your blood, boy. You might wanna be a bit more respectful when you talk about it. Whether you like it or not this is where your roots are. No matter where you end up, you'll always be from here. From this family," his father said with a shake of his head. "I don't understand why you've spent your whole life trying to run from that. When I was your age, I was settled, married with kids—not off gallivanting the world studying old canvases—"

"You know, I don't have to stick around for this," Jake sneered. He turned and paced as he continued. "I got people who understand what I want and who I am now. I got people who care about who I wanna be not who they think I should be. And maybe my version of settling isn't the same as yours. I can settle down without having to settle here, without having to work on the rig. Your kinda life ain't right for me. It just ain't. And no matter what you say, that's not gonna change. I finally got out of here and I'm not coming back. You can accept it and try to be supportive or we can just forget whatever relationship you and I have. Not that there's ever been much of one to begin with."

"Jacob," his mother said pleadingly as she placed a hand on his arm. "Don't say that. We're not going to forget anything. Certainly not each other."

"Mama," Jake said with a sad smile. "I'm not the one you should be talking to. This is all up to him. I'm done pretending to be someone I ain't. He can deal with it or not. That's his decision."

He turned to leave the room and Mrs. Stone grabbed his arm. "Jacob, are you happy? With those people I met?"

He nodded. "Yeah, mom, I am."

"Then that's all that matters," she told him with a sigh. "Your father's still working on himself, and maybe it's time you do the same. He'll come around."

Jake looked back to see his dad muttering angrily to himself as he ripped back the covers and headed into the bathroom.

"I'm not so sure about that," Jake said as the bathroom door slammed.

"He will," she assured him. "In the meantime, you had better call me at least once a week to check in. I do not want to go several months without hearing from you again."

He gave her half of a smile and nodded before he kissed her cheek. "I promise. I'll call you once a week."

"Good, and I want to spend more time with that girl you like," she told him. "She seems sweet. Bring her or any of your friends over for dinner sometime. Okay? Maybe they can make him see reason."

Jake chuckled. "Cassie's magical and all, mama, but I don't think she's that magical."

"Just do it, ya hear me?"

"I'll see what I can do," he said with a sigh. "But I make no promises."

"Good enough," she said as she leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Stay safe, son. Love you."

"I'll try. Love you too, mom," he said before he headed down the stairs and out of the house. Not quite a storybook ending but he wasn't going to have to lie anymore. No more secrets. He could find some relief in that at least. He should have known that even if his dad truly wanted things to be better it would take more than a few months sober and demonic possession to really change anything. Jake had always been stubborn. His refusal to trust Cassie for so long was obvious proof of that, and he got it honest. Sam Stone was twice as stubborn as his son.

They still had a long road ahead of them, but at least this was a start.


	17. Episode 03, Tag

**A/N:** Here's the end of episode three! Hope you guys enjoy it! I think you will ;)

Happy Reading!

angellwings

And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

**Episode 03: And the War Within**

* * *

_Tag: Home_

The door opened into the Annex and Jake breathed a sigh of relief. It struck him just how _at home_ he felt here. This place was his sanctuary and his adventure all at once. And the people in it were the best thing that had ever happened to him.

They were also nowhere to be found.

The main room was empty. He was beginning to wonder if everyone had gone home when he heard footfalls on the stairs. He looked up to see Cassandra approaching and he was pleased to see her looking much better than before.

"You're back," she said with a smile. "How'd it go?"

Something about her asking him that and the look on her face felt like one of those domestic scenes in sitcom. Which was very odd because the life they lead was anything but domestic and not something you'd ever see in a sitcom. Still, it caused a pang in his chest that he'd never really felt before. The yearning for something he really never thought he'd have. Before he realized what he was doing he'd met her at the bottom of the stairs and had pulled her against him.

She looked surprised and gulped nervously before she blushed and smiled shyly at him. "Um, hi."

He had his arms around her waist and her hands were resting palms down on his chest. Her blue eyes flicked up to meet his and then down to his lips for a split second before he smiled slowly at her. "Hi."

"Well, this is new," she said as she relaxed against him. "I like it."

"Yeah?" He asked curiously. "You do?"

Her smile brightened and she nodded. "A lot."

"Then let's take it a step further," he said before he leaned down and captured her lips with his. She froze for a moment before he felt her wrap her arms around his neck and lean into the kiss. The kiss deepened and continued for a long moment until they both needed to break for air. They pulled back and beamed at each other.

Cassandra giggled and her cheeks flushed before she took a deep calming breath. "Okay, we are doing that a lot more from here on out," she said as she met his eyes and bit her bottom lip excitedly. "Not that I mind, at all. But what made you want to…"

"Kiss you?" He asked as he smirked at her knowingly.

She nodded and waited for him to continue expectantly.

"Today, I realized that your home isn't always the place where you grew up," he told her honestly. "It's the place where you discover who you are and…" He paused and looked away from her.

"And?" She asked as she reached up cupped the side of his face and pulled his attention back to her.

He rested his forehead against hers, took her hand that was on the side of his face, and placed it over his heart before he continued, "_and_ what you _really _want."

She gasped and smiled brightly at him. Her eyes watered a little as she nodded wordlessly. "I thought it would take a lot longer for us to get to this point."

"For _me_ to get to this point, you mean," he said knowingly as he pulled back to meet her eyes again.

"Well," she said honestly with a wince.

He chuckled at her awkwardness. "I get it. It took me a while to trust you or at least admit I trusted you. It only seems right that it would take just as long for me to get to _us_."

"Us," she repeated. "That's nice. I like that."

"Me too," he admitted with an affectionate smile. "But, well, we've always had _something_, haven't we?"

"There's always been a connection. From day one," She said in agreement as she beamed at him. "Summer smells."

"It's oranges," he immediately replied with a grin. "Dinner?"

"Yes, I'm starving. Though now I sort of want breakfast for dinner," she said as she turned and looped her arm through his.

He laughed and placed a hand on her arm. "Whatever you want is fine with me, darlin'."


	18. Episode 04, Cold Open

**A/N: **Whose Line points ("and the points don't matter") to the first person who can tell me which show I borrowed the Curator from! ;)

Happy readings!

angellwings

* * *

And the Possibilities

Episode Four: ...And the Staff of Merlin

by angellwings

* * *

**Cold Open: Curator**

* * *

"Oh, Lovely," the older man with a British accent said as a long box was handed to him across the counter. "Another gift from the French Ambassador?"

The young man standing opposite of him nodded and handed him the necessary forms to register the gift in their log book. The man accepted the forms and opened the case. His brow furrowed and he looked disgusted as he pulled a tall walking stick from the case. The wood it was made out of was knotted and mangled but in remarkably good condition and the round gem on top was easily recognized as Lapis Lazuli. It must have been a trick of the light but he could swear the stone glowed for a brief moment. He shook his head at himself. He was imagining things.

The man sniffed snobbishly and shook his head. "I expect better of the French," he said with a huff. "Where could I possibly display this _thing_?"

"I'm sure I don't know, Mr. Thatch," the young man told him. "There must be somewhere in the White House you can display a glorified cane."

Before the other man could reply the young man turned and left.

"A glorified cane, indeed," Mr. Thatch agreed as he placed the walking stick back in its case. "I'm sure it's very old, but age does not a treasure make." He fastened the metal case and made sure it was closed before he placed the item on a shelf in the back of the room. What on Earth possessed the French to give the gift of an old walking stick to the President of the United States? It was times like this that made being White House Curator seem like a pointless position. There was no dignity left in the art and artifacts donated for display. He found it particularly appalling for the French, who on the whole had always donated extraordinary items for display. There was no room in the White House where he could fit this _stick_ into the décor. It would have to be one of the few items that stayed in the collection room. He'd rather risk offending the French Ambassador than marring the time-honored décor of the White House.

* * *

It had been a week and a half since anyone had gotten a case in their clippings book or since the Big Clippings Book had reacted to anything. Ezekiel was going insane with boredom, Eve was enjoying the quiet as The Library had still not brought them another Guardian, and Flynn had gone off in search of some relic that was magical but unlikely to cause any trouble (no one could quite remember what that object was), and Jenkins was busy tinkering with various contraptions in his lab.

Meanwhile, Jake and Cassandra were dealing with an entirely different dilemma. They'd found a quiet corner of the mezzanine where the Annex had created an alcove with a two person seat built into it. Cassandra had patted the wall in thanks while Jake had decided to ignore the fact that the Annex was seemingly privy to all of his secrets. Including his relationship with Cassandra, which by some miracle had yet to become public knowledge. For once, keeping a secret hadn't been his idea.

He considered that growth.

Cassandra had suggested they keep things low key for a while to keep the pressure off. She felt like they would be in a fishbowl all the time and saddled with expectations and watchful eyes. For however short a time, she wanted it to be just between them. So far they'd managed two actual dates and two nights in without an interruption from any of their colleagues. But the cat was bound to get out of the bag sometime.

They needed to talk about it. That conversation is what led them to a secluded corner of the mezzanine. Cassandra reached over and laced her fingers through his and then rested her head on his shoulder as they both relaxed into the alcove the Annex had given them.

"This is nice," she said with a contented hum. "The Library hasn't been this quiet since—well…_ever_."

Stone placed a quick kiss to the top of her head. "Agreed, darln'. But we still have to talk."

She whined and buried her head into his shoulder. "I don't want to think about it."

He chuckled at her. "We have to because we work with Ezekiel Jones. He tends to lurk."

She grinned up at him and nodded in agreement. "This is true."

"He's gonna find out," he told her. "It's just a matter of time."

She sighed. "I know. I just don't want to go through all the things that come with everyone finding out. Ezekiel teasing us, Baird talking to us about maintaining professionalism, Jenkins's disapproving looks. The whole kit and caboodle—"

Jake chuckled at her. "Kit and caboodle? Really?"

"You got something to say, _darlin_'?" She asked with a playful glare as she attempted to imitate his accent.

He gave her an amused look before he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and grinned at her. "Please do not _ever_ do that again."

She laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "I'm just saying, if you tease me then I tease you right back. Be prepared, Jacob."

"Prepared? With you? I don't know that that's possible," Jake said as he poked her side teasingly. She squirmed away from him slightly with a grin.

Her expression turned serious again and she bit her bottom lip nervously before she spoke. "So, what do you think we should do?"

"I think we should tell them as soon as Flynn gets back," he answered honestly. "That way we tell them all at once and get it over with."

"Oh! I like that!" She said brightly. "He's away right now. That gives us a little more time alone!"

Jake grinned at her and glanced around the Mezzanine before placed a hand on her neck and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "And we're certainly alone right now," he said with a smirk as he leaned in toward her. She closed her eyes and leaned toward him as well, preparing for the kiss she knew was coming when suddenly the pocket of her cardigan felt hot. She jumped with a startled yelp which caused her and Jacob to bump heads. They both cried out in pain. Jacob winced and Cassie pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Ow," Jacob said with a furrowed brow. "What was that?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Cassie exclaimed frantically as she removed her hand from her forehead and pulled him closer to inspect his. "Are you okay?" She soothingly rubbed a hand across Jacob's forehead.

"No permanent damage," he replied as he brow relaxed and his gaze turned affectionate. "You?"

"Trust me, my head's been through a lot worse than a little bump," she said with a chuckle before she placed a brief kiss on his forehead.

"What happened?" He asked as they pulled apart.

"My pocket," she said as she patted the cardigan pocket that rested on her hip. "Felt hot. Very hot. Like I had a burning coal in it." She reached in the pocket and pulled out her miniature clippings book that was still glowing a bright shiny gold color. "I guess the quiet had to end some time," she said with a sigh.

Jacob leaned toward her as she opened the book and as they both watched a clipping from a newspaper appeared across two pages. One page had a picture and a headline and the other had the rest of the article. The picture was of The President of the United States being handed a knobby old walking stick while smiling at the camera with the French Ambassador.

Cassie gasped suddenly and went rigid beside of him. The book fell to the ground with a thud and Jacob turned to face her immediately. Her eyes looked distant and out of focus and she wasn't moving a muscle.

"Cassie?" He asked worriedly. "Cassandra? What's happening, sweetheart?"

Her eyes closed and she slumped lifelessly back in the alcove. For a brief moment Stone felt panic rise in his chest. What the hell? This had never happened before. Had she hallucinated? Just as he was about to run to the stairs and call for Jenkins or Baird, Cassie sprang up and grabbed his arm. He nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise but it was almost immediately replaced with relief.

"The Staff of Merlin!" She yelled as she turned to look at him.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

She picked up the book and opened it again to the picture. She then jabbed her finger at the stick in the picture. "The Walking Stick is the Staff of Merlin! Viviane recognized it!"

He nodded and then turned a startled look on her. "_Viviane_ recognized it? Is that what—did you just—_Cassandra_, are you telling me that Viviane is still inside your head?"

She blushed at the worry in his tone and gave him a sheepish look. "Not _all_ the time. Just sometimes. And this is the first time she's actually talked to me. Normally, there's just a gentle _nudge_ in my head, if you will."

"Nudge?" He asked with a sigh. "And you didn't mention this before because?"

"I—I didn't know if it was a problem," she said honestly. "I didn't want to worry anyone."

"Darlin', I'd worry even if you didn't have a legendary magical figure bouncing around inside of your head," Jacob told her honestly as he took her hand in his. "Even if you didn't have magic and even if our jobs weren't dangerous. I'd worry. It's one of the things I'm best at, unfortunately."

She smiled warmly at him and kissed him on the lips slowly and tenderly before she pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I haven't had any one worry about me in a very long time. I'll have to get used to it again." She glanced down at her clippings book and then back toward where she knew the stairs were. "We should tell the others. We need to get to that Staff before anyone else can. Surely, Dulaque and Morgan le Fay will know the Staff when they see it."

Cassie stood up and walked briskly to the stairs that led down from the Mezzanine.

Jacob grinned at the thought of the impending adventure before he patted the wall of the Annex thankfully. "And we're back. I love this job."


	19. Episode 04, Act 01

**A/N:** So this one is kind of short but after posting 7 fics for 7 days I feel it's okay that this one be a little shorter than normal, lol. The real action will be in the next act! But this one does have some lovely emotions in it.

Enjoy!

* * *

...And the Possibilities

Episode 04: ...And the Staff of Merlin

by angellwings

* * *

**Act 01: The Plan**

* * *

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Eve exclaimed as Cassandra told them what she'd seen in her book. "_The White House?_ You're telling me we're going to have to retrieve an item from _The White House_? We are _all_ going to jail." She looked up at the ceiling of the Annex and shouted, "Is this fun for you? Do you enjoy making me break the law? Is that it?"

"A heist from the White House?" Ezekiel asked with obvious glee. "Now this is the kind of job I'm talking about! I have mentioned that I'm a world class thief, haven't I?"

"When _don't _you mention it?" Eve asked him in irritation.

"We cannot afford to hesitate, Colonel Baird," Jenkins said urgently. "If Dulaque or Morgan were to get their hands on this staff the world would most definitely end horribly and painfully."

"So, your standard apocalyptic relic then?" Eve asked with a sigh. "Jones, take point on the heist. It'll be you and me on this one. The fewer people we risk being arrested the better I'll feel. Plus, I cannot keep my eyes on Jones and those two," she said as she motioned to Stone and Cassandra.

"So, what do we do?" Cassandra asked with a huff. "You might need me if you run into Morgan or Dulaque."

"Dulaque rarely does his own dirty work," Eve reminded her. "And running into Morgan with you in tow is exactly what I'm worried about. She wants you dead, Cassandra. I'd like to avoid that confrontation as long as possible."

"Besides," Ezekiel said as he smiled gently at Cassandra. "A lighter heist is cleaner and faster. The fewer people the easier it will be to sneak in and out. Sorry, Cass." Ezekiel then turned to Jenkins. "The Library wouldn't happen to have blueprints of the White House, would it?"

"Actually," Jenkins said with a smirk. "Here's something funny…"

Jenkins and Ezekiel wondered off into the main Library and Eve quickly followed after them.

Cassandra huffed and sat down in her usual seat at the table. Jake sat down next to her and tried to think of something to say, but he found he didn't disagree with anything Baird or Jones had said. He wasn't quite sure what to say to make her feel any better.

"The clipping showed up in _my_ book, Jacob," she told him with a huff. "Shouldn't that mean I get to be more involved than this? The Library sent that to _me_ not Ezekiel and Colonel Baird."

"Maybe it sent it to you because it knew you would recognize the Staff," Jake offered.

Cassandra sighed. "Jenkins could have recognized the staff. If that's all it was the clipping would have come up in the Big Book. But it didn't. It came up in _mine_."

"I don't know what to say, Cassie," Jake said honestly. "Baird and Jones are right. It's best they handle obtaining the Staff. Of all of us, Baird's the one that understands secure locations and Jones has experience with stealing items and getting around security."

"Fine, since no one needs me," she said in a clipped tone. "I'll be in the Mezzanine practicing magic. I still haven't managed to create a flame. Come and find me if you need me."

"You—you don't want me to go with you?" Jacob asked with a furrowed brow.

"I'd like to be alone, if you don't mind," she said stiffly as she stood and then briskly walked up the stairs.

Jacob sighed tiredly and shook his head. This was a no win situation for him. He glanced longingly at the art portfolios sitting on top of the card catalogue. He'd pulled them yesterday for whenever he had a spare moment. He could let Cassandra cool off for a bit and then check on her later, but upset Cassandra and fire and magic probably wasn't a combination that should go unsupervised. He followed her up the stairs and found her sitting dejectedly in the alcove they'd left behind just a few minutes before. She had her mini clippings book open and was staring at the picture of the President and the Staff with a blank look on her face.

He scratched the back of his neck and quietly sat down next to her, trying to figure out what to say.

"Even with magic I feel absolutely useless," Cassandra said softly as she stared down at the book. "Yes, I've still got math and science but no one needs me out on the cases for that. You can fight, Ezekiel has unique advantages, and Eve is the strategist. Why would you all need me along? Especially when Flynn is here. And then with Morgan out to get me, maybe…maybe it's just better if I don't-"

"Stop," Jake said with a huff as he reached out and pried the clippings book from her hands. He placed a hand under her chin and brought her eyes to meet his before he continued. "What about the Labyrinth? Or the STEM Fair, or when we had to find Santa or the Dragons in Rome, or with the mummies or the House of Refuge or—"

He had more but apparently she'd heard enough. She smiled softly at him for moment before she interrupted him with a soft and grateful kiss on the lips. She pulled back and smiled at him again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said as he pressed his forehead to hers. "This is a transition period, Cass. You need more practice with magic and Baird needs help keeping all of us—not just you—safe. We're still a team and we each still have a role to play. We just need to make sure it stays that way. You are useful. You're always useful and _brilliant_. And, personally, I'd like you to stay that way."

She smiled warmly at him. "You too. You need to stay safe too. You know."

He nodded and caressed her cheek. "I do know. But feel free to remind me as often as you'd like, though."

She laughed softly and the sound was music to his ears.

"Feel any better?" He asked.

She nodded and kissed him briefly. "Yes."

"Good. Do you still want to practice your magic?" He asked. "I could help."

* * *

Ezekiel, Jenkins, and Eve had the White House schematics spread across one of the tables in The Library and they were studying all the ways in or out. Eve could tell them exactly where the cameras were and where Secret Service would be stationed. Jenkins was trying to figure out how he could specifically aim the Back Door.

"The hard part," Ezekiel said. "Isn't stealing the Staff. The special collections room in the White House is a joke. The hard part is getting _to_ the special collections room. The security to get through to that point requires clearance and badges. Which, given enough time, I could crack but we don't have that kind of time."

"So, we need the Door as close to the room as possible," Eve told Jenkins. "There is a security check point here," she said as she pointed to the hall adjacent from the special collections room. "And here," she said as she pointed around the corner from the room. "And there is a guard stationed here," she said as she pointed to a doorway. "Because that door leads to the West Wing. So we need to come out here," she said as she pointed to a specific supply closet past all three obstacles. "If we can come out of that door we can be in and out in split second. And no one gets arrested by the Secret Service."

Ezekiel laughed. "They had a hard time catching a civilian running through the back lawn. What makes you think they could catch me? _Ever?"_

Baird rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, underestimate them. But they have guns and training. You have quick hands and a smart phone. When pressed I'm betting on the gun and the training."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Ezekiel said with a smirk. "It touches my heart. Or it would if I had one."

"Children, please," Jenkins said with an exasperated sigh. "Mr. Jones, take a picture of the closet on the schematic, if you would. You'll need to print it. If that's possible to do from that bothersome device of yours."

"It's a smart phone," Ezekiel said as he rolled his eyes. "Not a magic wand." He leaned over the schematic, took the picture, and then pressed a few buttons on his screen.

"No, it is not. A wand had a very real purpose. As far as I can tell that 'smartphone' of yours does nothing but compromise privacy and personal security as well as distract people from the joys of life. It is a convenience that makes mankind lazy."

"Because hiding from the world in a magical Annex to a magical Library and tinkering with relics while living like a classy hermit is so much better," Ezekiel told him with a pointed glance. "It's printed and should be waiting for us at the Annex."

Jenkins huffed but said nothing to respond to Ezekiel. He left The Guardian and the Junior Librarian standing in the Library with the schematics and Eve gave Ezekiel a tired look.

"You could be nicer to him, you know," Eve told him.

"I am nice to him. Besides, he started it," Ezekiel told her.

"It doesn't matter who starts it," she told him. "It matters who takes the bait. And you, my young friend, always take the bait. Besides, by now you've learned that Jenkins doesn't do well with change. He likes things a very particular way and he likes them to stay that way. Until we came along he had that. But we barged in with all of our changing Library rules and technology and noise and chaos and his whole world was essentially turned upside down. For as long as he's lived, it's probably at lot to take for a few months time. Just try and think about that every so often."

"Again, if I had a heart that would—"

She smirked at him and then wagged a scolding finger. "That act will not work with me, Jones. You have a heart. You had a soft spot for Jamie when we were in Bremen, you cared for that kid from that vanishing village case a few weeks ago—"

Ezekiel swallowed thickly and glanced down at the floor as Eve abruptly cut off her own sentence. She cleared her throat awkwardly as she realized she'd hit a nerve.

"—and you would do just about anything for Cassandra."

He looked up to protest but she gave him another meaningful look.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't. She's your _friend_ and from what I can tell the first one you've had in a while. You have a heart, Ezekiel. You should use it every so often. Unlike your last job, having a heart actually _helps_ during a case." She patted the young thief's shoulder sympathetically before she turned back to the table and rolled up the schematics they'd been studying.

Ezekiel watched her as she placed them carefully back in the tube they found them in and then placed them back on the shelf. He waited in silence until she turned to walk back toward the Annex and he followed her. It bothered him that The Guardian seemed to know him so well. It also bothered him that he'd let his guard down enough for her to see those things. He never let himself get used to a place. He never made a home. He didn't need a home. He needed a challenge. He needed risk. He needed adventure. Settling somewhere never fit in with those things.

Until now.

Maybe what bothered him most was not that Colonel Baird saw those things, but that she was _right_. He did have a heart. The boy in the village had hurt him the most. He saw so much of himself in that kid and to not know if he was alive before they'd been forced to leave, to not be able to save him…

With Jamie he'd been able to help. Even with Cassandra he'd been able to help. Not the way Jake could but he did help. He _wanted_ to help. He actively wanted to care for these people and to make their lives better. As a professional thief, he'd never hurt anyone but he'd never helped anyone either. Until this job and these people.

He was more vulnerable now than he'd ever been because losing any one of these people would hurt like hell. It was probably something he should have realized before now and maybe he had on some level, but just now the full force of it hit him.

He had a team, and not just any team—or crew. He had a team he genuinely liked.

A team he didn't want to leave.

It was a funny feeling, he thought, having something to lose.

* * *

Jenkins used the picture Jones took of the closet on the schematic to calculate where to send the door. By the time Eve and Ezekiel had gotten through he'd finished and was ready to set the door. None of them really knew where Cassandra and Stone were, they assumed they were some where in the Annex together but they didn't have time to waste and Jenkins would be there to let them know they'd gone.

Ezekiel stopped in front of Jenkins as he spun the globe.

"Thank you, Jenkins," Ezekiel said as he gave the older man a sheepish smile.

"For what, Mr. Jones?" Jenkins asked curiously.

Ezekiel shrugged as the door glowed and changed. "For everything…and nothing, I guess."

Jenkins almost smiled at the younger man with a slight upward turn on his mouth but at the last minute he backed out of it and his lips formed a thin straight line instead. "I am here to serve the Library, Mr. Jones. This is what I do."

They nodded at each other politely before the Colonel and Ezekiel opened the door and peered through.

Baird turned back to smile at Jenkins as she confirmed he'd correctly calculated the door's location. She gave Jones a warning look before as they both stepped through the door with a jolt. "Jones, we are here for the staff and nothing more. Got it?"

He smirked and nodded. "Sure. If you say so."

Jenkins smirked to himself as he closed the doors. He hoped _some things_ never changed. Once silence fell over the room again, his eyes fell on the pile of books he'd been studying earlier that day before Ms. Cillian had come barging down the stairs with her mini clippings book. He'd been putting off a certain chat he needed to have with the red headed junior Librarian in favor of researching. He wanted to make certain he was correct. Now he knew he was. Her mini clippings book sending her the clipping on the Staff had confirmed his theories.

And with two of the four of his constant interlopers gone, this was the perfect time to finally have this chat. It was, most likely, long over due.


	20. Episode 04, Act 02

...And the Possibilities

Episode 04: ...And the Staff of Merlin

by angellwings

* * *

**Act 02: A Chat**

* * *

The candle Cassandra was focusing on sparked but a flame never materialized. She sighed and glared at the candle. "This is hopeless. I have no idea what I'm doing."

"It's not hopeless. You can manipulate flame now. That's something. You can make it jump from one candle to another," He told her with an encouraging smile. "Why exactly are you so focused on creating fire anyway?"

"It's useful," she told him. "It doubles as something needed for survival and a weapon. Plus, I think if I can master one element then the others will fall into place."

He nodded in agreement. "Makes sense. We'll just have to keep practicing. You're getting there. A spark is more than we were getting a couple of days ago."

"At this rate I'll barely be able to use this magic by…Christmas? This is taking too long," she said with a huff.

"Cass, we all knew from the start that this would take time," He told her.

"Yes, we did, but I don't have that kind of—" she stopped herself short of completing the sentence and the furrowed line on her brow relaxed. A slow smile spread across her face and she laughed lightly at herself.

"Time?" Jake asked knowingly. He grinned and laced his fingers through hers. "Sweetheart, you've got all the time in the world now. You're not racing a clock anymore."

She nodded and then squeezed his hand. "I know," she said after a quiet moment. "I'm still not used to it. I've been facing down death since I was 15. That _grape_ was there for over ten years of my life. Sometimes I forget it's gone. Sometimes, I'm—I'm afraid it will come back. That would have been a risk if it had been operable, you know?" She told him. "They could have removed it and bought me some time but the statistics on the cancer coming back after an operation are not very encouraging. So, after all my research and my years waiting around a hospital for any news of a new treatment or operation, having _magic_ remove the grape is a bit like…like a dream." She paused and then smiled warmly at him as she motioned between them. "And then to top it all off _this_ happened. It makes me feel like I could wake up one day and all of this would be a cruel joke or something. You still wouldn't trust me and the tumor would be waiting to kill me again. And _this_, us and magic and the Lady of the Lake, would just be another one of my hallucinations."

"I'm not a hallucination, Cass," he told her as he led her back over to the nook the Annex had created for them. "I'm real, and I'm here. The tumor is gone and magic is real. And _you will _learn to use it. You've already learned quite a bit in a short amount of time," he told her. "Flynn and Jenkins always seem so impressed with you. But even if you never master it completely, that doesn't mean you've failed," he said he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him as they both leaned back in the seat. "If anything you're the most successful of the three of us, Junior Librarians. I am better with my fists than with magic and Ezekiel with magic would be terrifying. But you…you'll use it the way it's meant to be used. To help people."

"But I feel like Vivien trusted me with her magic and by not being able to use it the way she did I'm…I'm letting her down," she said softly. "I don't like disappointing people yet I seem to do that too often. I disappointed my parents and…you and teachers who thought I would go on to do all these extraordinary things—"

"You're putting way too much pressure on yourself," he said as he interrupted her. "You did nothing to deserve your parents disappointment. And, me, well I had my own issues that I projected on to you. Only a small percentage of that was you. And your teachers…Cassandra, you _are_ doing extraordinary things. Every day. You save the world twice before Friday every week. I'm sure your teachers meant a lot to you," he told her. "Based on what I saw at that STEM fair you were the kind of kid who probably got along really well with educators, who loved learning as much as they did. But their opinion of who they _think_ you've become doesn't change who you actually are. Cut yourself some slack, you always do the absolute best that you can and no one can ask for any more than that."

She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his jaw. "Thank you. I needed that." She relaxed against him and a comfortable silence fell between them for a moment before Cassandra finally said, "You should take some of your own advice, you know."

"What?" He asked her with a furrowed brow.

"With your family," she said as she caught his gaze. "I know you feel guilty for not being there."

He started to speak up with a defensive expression and she held up her hand to stop him.

"I know you love it here and I know you'd rather be here than there, but I can see it sometimes. You feel guilty for being here living the life you've always wanted instead of being there helping with the family business. Even with this job you act like the world is on your shoulders sometimes," she told him as she angled herself toward him and then leaned her back against the opposite corner of the nook. "I can only imagine that you must have been doing the same thing when you were running the family business and taking care of everyone. It's hard to fight habit and instinct, Jacob. _I know. _But you don't have to do that here. Not with us. You should relax and let us take care of you sometimes. Or just take care of _yourself. _That's important too." She smiled warmly at him and winked playfully before she repeated his own words. "Cut yourself some slack."

The smile Jake aimed at her was full of so much affection and warmth that Cassie felt her heart literally skip a beat. Her stomach did a strange thing where it felt as if it were dropping completely out of her body and she swallowed thickly before taking a deep breath. He leaned forward and kissed her slowly and softly as if they weren't in the public spaces of the Annex and as if they had all the time in the world to do nothing but kiss. He'd never kissed her quite like this. Not yet. This was brand new to her. And she loved it.

"What was that for?" She asked as he pulled back from the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap and she, in turn, wrapped her arms around his neck.

He smiled softly at her and tucked a loose red wave behind her ear. "You're the first person who's ever said something like that to me. The first person to tell me it's okay to do something for myself every now and then. I don't know how you do it, but you always seem to understand the things I never tell you."

She blushed and smiled at him in understanding. "You do that with me too, you know. You've always done that. But the way I see it, we're here to take care of each other and I don't just mean you and me. I mean all of us. Jenkins, Ezekiel, Colonel Baird, and even Flynn. None of us really have anyone else we share all of ourselves with so we should stick together and take care of each other. It should never fall to one person."

Jacob nodded in agreement. His smile was bright and he looked so happy that his eyes were crinkling at the corners. She loved when his eyes did that. They didn't do that often enough in her opinion.

"And for that," he said as he leaned toward her. "I may have to kiss you again."

"No objection here," she said with a giggle as his lips met hers for a second kiss.

This kiss was much more intrusive than the last one, more personal. There was so much of him in this kiss that it almost made her want to cry. For so long Jacob Stone hid himself from her, the team, and the world. Now she was starting to see the man he'd hid from her. The curtain fell away and she could see the person he wanted to be beneath everything he felt he _had _to be. That sort of vulnerability was rare and she appreciated it more than he probably knew. For her part she held nothing back in her own kisses. If he wanted to get to know her, the real her, then she planned to let him. And kissing him with all she had in her was part of that.

* * *

Jenkins reluctantly made his way up the stairs to the mezzanine. He wasn't sure he really wanted to have this talk with Cassandra. It would either go poorly or exceptionally well. There was no room for the middle road with her. The mezzanine of the Annex was a lot larger than it appeared so he decided to forego silently searching for Ms. Cillian and instead called her name loudly. It echoed through the Annex and he heard shuffling and a nervous squeak to his left, from the stacks past a small nook he'd never noticed before.

While he appeared as, what he was sure was, elderly to these young adventurers his senses were still very sharp. Sharp enough that he could hear frantic feminine whispers of "Get up, get up, get up!" and a frustrated sigh in response that most definitely belonged to Mr. Stone. Jenkins bit back an exasperated groan. There could be no doubt as to what he'd nearly walked in on. He should've known those two resolving their differences would lead to this. First The Librarian and his Guardian begin to…fraternize and now the Junior Librarians too. Yes, Mr. Carsen was a stellar example for these young Librarians to follow, Jenkins thought sarcastically as Cassandra and Stone came out from behind the stacks that were furthest away from him and headed his way.

"You called, Mr. Jenkins?" Cassandra asked as she tugged at her double layers of shirts to try and straighten them.

"We were uh—I was…helping Cassie practice magic," Jake lied, very unconvincingly, as he ran a hand through his hair to put it back into place.

"Yes, magic," Cassandra said with a flush. "That's what we were doing."

Jenkins chose to ignore their obvious lies and sighed tiredly in exasperation. "Ms. Cillian, you and I have much to discuss."

Her brow furrowed at him. "We do?"

"Yes, regarding the Lady of the Lake that is currently living in your head," Jenkins told her sternly.

"You knew about that?" Cassandra asked. "I didn't even know about that until…"

"I didn't know, but I suspected. Vivien is too powerful to fade from existence completely. But there's more to it than that. More that you should know," Jenkins told her before he paused and motioned for the stairs. "Shall we?"

Cassandra looked worried and scared. For a brief second he imagined that she must have worn a similar look on the day she found out about her diagnosis. Imagining a teenage Cassandra in a doctor's office finding out her life was considerably shortened made his immortal heart hurt more than it had in years.

"You're in no danger, Cassandra," Jenkins assured her. He felt the comfort of her first name might ease some of her fears. By the way her posture relaxed it seemed he was right. "Not from what I'm about to tell you, at least." She glanced briefly back at Jacob and in response he stepped further into her space. Jenkins resisted the urge to shake his head at the two of them. They could not be more obvious if they _tried_. "Mr. Stone can be present while we talk, if you wish."

Both of the Junior Librarians breathed a sigh of relief and Cassandra reluctantly nodded. Jenkins led them both down the stairs and into his lab where he promptly shut the door behind them. Since his Annex had been invaded one could never be too careful when privacy was necessary.

Jenkins motioned for Cassandra and Stone to take a seat on the stools that sat opposite his counter and workspace. He waited for them to get settled. Cassandra shifted nervously until Stone briefly placed a hand on the small of her back. She stilled almost instantly.

Jacob huffed impatiently but kept his hand on Cassandra's back. "Are you gonna tell us what's going on or are you pausing for dramatic effect?"

Jenkins quirked a brow at him. "Relax, Mr. Stone. I am merely waiting for Ms. Cillian to seem comfortable."

"When any variation of 'we need to talk' is hanging over my head it is impossible to be comfortable," Cassandra said with a sigh. "What's going on?"

"I have been researching the Lady of the Lake and her various vessels over the centuries," he told her again. "I wanted to make sure we were prepared for any complications and I didn't want to make you anxious if you had no reason to be."

"Did you find something to cause concern?" Cassandra asked nervously.

"Not necessarily. The situation is, for the most part, exactly as we thought it would be. However, you inherited more than just Vivien's magic. She neglected to mention that part to you, it would seem," Jenkins told her. "You also inherited her title. You _are_ The Lady of the Lake."

Cassandra blinked at him in stunned silence for a long moment. "What does that mean exactly?"

"You have inherited the knowledge of Camelot and it's treasures. It's your job to protect them. As well as any former…residents of it. Provided they are peace loving. Certainly, Morgan and Dulaque are not among those you are to protect. You may find you have acquired knowledge you never truly studied, and occasionally Vivien may pop in to point you in the right direction. I can't be sure of that. It seems her former vessels were never given a chance to inhabit their own bodies. They were suppressed in favor of Vivien," Jenkins informed her.

"I don't like the sound of that," Jacob said with a thoughtful glare. "Does that mean that if Vivien hadn't been on her death bed she would have taken over Cassandra's body?"

Jenkins looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the roads not taken and the research he'd completed. "Based on precedence, I believe Ms. Cillian would have been trapped in her own mind and Vivien would have been the consciousness that remained. But that was not the situation the three of you encountered, thank goodness. And Vivien will not be able to regain her strength. Her time simply came to an end like any other living being."

"Your time hasn't come to an end, Mr. Jenkins," Cassandra told him pointedly.

"I am a special case," he said with a sigh. "I successfully completed a challenge that, had I known it's spoils, I would not complete again. Living for centuries loses its charm when you realize it means living alone."

He gave the two young librarians a momentarily honest and vulnerable expression as if he were trying to communicate something without words. Jacob and Cassandra exchanged shy smiles and blushed before Cassandra focused a sad smile on Jenkins and reached across the table to pat his hand gently. "You're not living alone any more, and as much as you complain, I know you don't dislike us _that_ much."

He smirked at her for a brief moment. "Though a blight on my silence you may be, I do find the company…entertaining at times. Never tell Mr. Jones I told you that."

Jake chuckled at him and nodded before removing his hand from Cassandra's back to cross it over his heart. "Tell him what?" He asked as he feigned ignorance.

"Wait," Cassandra said suddenly with a horrified expression. "If you've lived for centuries and so have Morgan and Dulaque…does that mean that I—Jenkins, please tell me I am not immortal. Please tell me I did not trade dying before everyone I care about for outliving them all. I don't want—I couldn't—"

She cut off her own sentence to breathe deeply and calm herself down as Jake placed a soothing hand on her back again and watched her with concern.

This time it was Jenkins who covered Cassandra's hand with his. "No, Ms. Cillian. You are not immortal if you do not wish to be. Certainly, like Morgan and Dulaque, you have the ability to live a great many years if you desired to. But this is something you would have to learn to achieve. Something you would have to work for, something that you _choose_. You could simply _not_ choose it and choose to age as naturally, though hopefully a great deal _more_ gracefully, as Mr. Stone here."

Cassandra appeared to calm down at his words and giggled at his last sentence. Stone gave Jenkins an offended glare. Though, Jenkins suspected it was more playful than serious.

"I—I'm aging gracefully," Stone said defensively.

"Of course, you are," Jenkins said dryly. "Compared to some mortals. I'm sure."


	21. Episode 04, Act 03

...And the Possibilities

Episode 04: ...And the Staff of Merlin

by angellwings

* * *

**Act 03: The Heist**

* * *

"You distract," Ezekiel reminded Eve as they stepped through the Door. "I grab."

She nodded just before Ezekiel disappeared from view. He hid way too well for her comfort. There weren't even that many shadows around for him to hide in. Her instinct was to keep an eye on him at all times, and this situation made her realize Ezekiel Jones _let_ her keep an eye on him. He had the ability to slip out of her sight at any moment and yet more often than not he chose to stay visible. The question was: did he do it out of respect for her or for his own entertainment? That was a mystery she would most likely never solve.

Eve marched up to the Curator's desk, which appeared to be more of a counter peering out of the special collections room. There was no way for her to get passed the Curator and into the room or for the Curator to leave the room without using the door on the wall to her right. It prevented someone from breezing through the room and snatching priceless items which worked to keep casual pickpockets at bay but would do nothing to deter a professional like Jones. The Curator looked up at her expectantly and she flashed her NATO badge at him with the confidence she'd earned over years of searching for dangerous people and weapons.

"Colonel Eve Baird, NATO Counter Terrorism Unit," she said briskly. "I need to ask you a few questions."

The older balding man lifted his chin and settled a critical gaze on her. "Bernard Thatch, White House Curator." His voice sounded monotone and he looked very bored by her presence. Okay, so he was unflappable. That could work for her or against her. "How may I help you, Colonel?"

"Have you had any suspicious visitors recently?" Eve asked with a stern expression. Stern typically worked on unflappable people in her experience. It was intimidating yet disinterested. It implied she knew something he didn't yet didn't reveal what it could be.

"You mean like a freakishly tall NATO Colonel?" He asked with a ghost of a grin.

She made a mental note never to introduce Mr. Thatch to Jenkins. She had a feeling she'd end up punching one of them if they were ever in the same room together. "No, and you haven't answered my question."

The door to the room barely moved but Eve spotted a brief shadow behind Mr. Thatch just moments after. Ezekiel was in.

"Well," Mr. Thatch said with a snobbish sniff. "That depends on your definition of suspicious, I suppose."

"Out of the ordinary," she clarified with an exasperated sigh.

"No," he said with a huff. "No visitors out of the ordinary. Are we quite through?"

Over his shoulder Ezekiel appeared. She tried not to pay him obvious attention. He gave her a confused shrug of the shoulders and motioned to the room that surrounded him. There were too many artifacts. He didn't know what to look for or where to find it.

"No," Eve answered Mr. Thatch gruffly. "Fine, no out of the ordinary visitors. What about items? Did you receive anything odd in the last couple of days?"

He chuckled dryly. "Aside from an old ugly stick in a protective titanium case that was a rather horrifying gift from the French? No, nothing."

Ezekiel nodded once he heard the description and disappeared again. The man huffed again and suddenly dropped a thick plastic binder onto the counter in front of her. It made a loud thud and she jumped in surprise as her attention was pulled back to the curator.

"There," he said archly. "Look for yourself. That is the log of every item I have received in the past year. I have no time to assist you. I have the spoils of last months China Summit to catalogue."

Just as he started to turn away from her the door to the room swayed slightly and Eve let out a tense breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Ezekiel was out.

"You do realize," The Curator said as he walked toward a shelf in the back of the room and inspected a few items. "That every person and item in this building has been thoroughly searched by the Secret Service, don't you? I believe _they_ would catch anything dangerous before it came this far."

He turned with a conceited grin to gloat over the Colonel. However, she was nowhere to be found. He sighed tiredly and shook his head.

"Why do I even bother speaking to Americans?" He asked the empty room.

* * *

"You sure that's it?" Eve asked as Ezekiel carefully carried the long titanium case.

He nodded. "I opened it before I snatched it. It's the same staff from the picture in Cassandra's book."

Eve gave him a small grin as they neared the Door. "Well, that went better than expected then."

Ezekiel froze and then sighed in defeat. He motioned to the Door ahead of her. "You jinxed us."

She followed his gaze and nearly groaned in frustration at the sight of a tall muscular dark skinned man standing in front of the door. Her eyes immediately traveled to his forearm and, as predicted, spotted the tell-tale snake tattoo. The man's body language and stance told her he was well trained. Probably ex-military from some country or another. She could tell he wasn't American. American Military had a completely different stance. Bottom line, though, he was Serpent Brotherhood and he was blocking their path to the Door.

"Do not let go of that staff," Eve told Ezekiel with a resigned sigh. "Same as before. I distract, you get the Staff out of here. Clear?"

"I can't leave you to fight this guy alone—"

"Jones," she said through her teeth. "Do as your told. _For once_." Eve turned to glared at the man in front of her and rested her hand on her gun. "You're new," she told him with a quirked brow.

"And _you_ must be The Guardian," the man said with a grin.

"What gave me away?" She asked with a smirk. "The gun or the Thief?"

He ignored her question and aimed his own gun at Ezekiel. Eve chuckled in response which earned her a startled look from Ezekiel. It's not often the sight of a gun caused a chuckle.

"Lamia never needed a gun," Eve said as she removed her hand from her gun and crossed her arms over her chest. "Blades were more her style. Should that tell me something about your hand-to-hand combat skills?"

"The lack of a gun didn't turn out so well for her in the end, did it?" the man asked with a roll of his eyes.

"I think her end had less to do with the lack of a gun and more to do with Dulaque stabbing her," Ezekiel said dryly. "But what do I know? It's not like I was there or anything."

"Hand over the staff," he said with a sneer. "Do that and _maybe_ I'll let you live."

"Highly unlikely," Eve said with a scoff.

"Yes, I agree. It's highly unlikely that I'll let you live," the man responded with a dark smirk.

Eve chuckled at him again and motioned to the gun in his hand. "No silencer on the gun," she told him. "One shot and the Secret Service will come barreling down on us. Sort of bad form for a mercenary to get caught, isn't it?"

The man didn't move or speak. His lack of a retort was telling enough. He hadn't thought of that.

"Since we both know you can't risk that, why don't you put away the gun and fight me for it," Eve told him.

"What?" He asked with a furrowed brow.

She gave him a challenging look and smiled as she rolled up her sleeves. "I said, _fight me_. Do I need to say it again?"

As the man stared at her and considered his options, Eve back her and Ezekiel up several feet. She took a fighting stance in front of the young thief and motioned the mercenary forward. She gave Ezekiel a brief meaningful look. If she lured the henchman away from the door then Ezekiel would immediately make a break for it. Ezekiel huffed at her but gave her a subtle nod in response. He didn't like it, but he'd do it.

As predicted the man took several steps forward and Ezekiel ran to the door. He pulled the door open and burst through as the henchman attempted to reach for him. Out of the corner of his eye Ezekiel saw Eve land a kick to the man's face and winced. _Ouch_.

He skidded to a stop inside the door and then blinked at the sight that greeted him. "You've got to be kidding me."

Standing on the other end of the room, with a sword pointed at Jenkins's throat, was Dulaque. Both Cassandra and Jake stood several feet away with their hands held out in front of them to indicate that weren't planning on making any sudden moves.

"When this is over I need to have a serious look at the security for this place," Ezekiel said as he glared at Dulaque. "How do you keep getting in here?"

"I knew I could count on The Librarians to do all the hard work for me. Hand it over," Dulaque said as he held out one hand for the Staff. "The Grail may lengthen his life, thief, but Galeas does still bleed." As if to prove his statement Dulaque added more pressure to the blade. Cassandra gasped and shut her eyes tightly.

Dulaque gave her an apologetic look. "Do forgive me, Lady Vivien."

Cassandra opened her eyes and glared at him. "Okay, for the fifth time. I am _not_ Vivien."

Dulaque chuckled at her. "We'll see. Mr. Jones, the staff?"

"Do not hand that over to him," Jenkins said angrily. "Under no circumstances should the Serpent Brotherhood be allowed to have that staff." Jenkins gave Ezekiel an impatient look as the blade pressed closer into his throat. "_No circumstances_."

"So heroic," Dulaque said with a chuckle. "It's all glory and martyrdom with you, isn't it? What is the point of glory without power, _Jenkins_? I couldn't use the Loom to bring back the Camelot we knew but with that staff I can create my _own_ Camelot. A greater and more powerful Camelot with the magic of the world in my control. It's nearly perfect."

Jake took a step forward and Dulaque made a shallow cut across Jenkins's throat. It wasn't serious but it was a warning. A precursor to something much worse.

"Mr. Stone, I would stay put if I were you. You wouldn't want my hand to slip, would you?" Dulaque asked with a grin. "Now," he said with a tired sigh as he focused his glare on Ezekiel. "The Staff, please. I am getting impatient."

Ezekiel glanced over to Stone and Cassandra for an answer on what to do.

"If he gets that staff, Mr. Jones, we're all dead anyway," Jenkins pleaded once more with a huff.

"Do you _ever_ stop talking?" Dulaque asked him with a sigh.

Jake shook his head and gave Ezekiel a resigned look. They had no choice. It was Jenkins or the Staff and none of them could make the decision to kill Jenkins. Suddenly, Cassandra went rigid and then collapsed. Jake looked alarmed but caught her easily.

"Cassie?" He asked as he tried to shake her gently. "Cassie?" She didn't answer or stir and Jake's brow furrowed with worry. "Cassandra? Sweetheart?"

Ezekiel's eyebrows flew upward at the endearment. Sweetheart?

In a flash of white Cassandra was up on her feet again. Everyone in the room jumped in surprise. A glow of white blinding light filled her eyes and surrounded her like a backlight. Jake and Ezekiel gave each other knowing looks. They'd seen this before. In Lima. Just like the last time Cassandra's body began to levitate off the ground until she hung in the air in the center of the room with her red waves billowing around her.

Dulaque looked frightened by the sight but not surprised. He threw the sword aside and bowed immediately. "My Lady."

Jenkins picked up the sword Dulaque dropped and swiftly moved away from him. Jake and Jenkins crossed the room to Ezekiel and the Staff. Once they were grouped together Jake glared at Jenkins.

"I thought you said this couldn't happen," He said through a tense jaw.

"I said I _thought_ it couldn't happen. Vivien is raw magic. With raw magic anything is _possible_," Jenkins said as he watched Cassandra's floating figure in concern.

"Leave this place," Vivien said as she glared sternly at Dulaque through Cassandra's eyes. "Leave this place or I will send you away. And when I send people away they do not end up somewhere pleasant. I am sure you remember, Lancelot."

"But I could bring back the Shining City. I could bring about a great revival of—"

"Have you not caused enough trouble for one lifetime?" Vivien asked. "Was it not enough that you aided the fall of Camelot in the first place? Do not waste your life attempting to relive days that can never be again. Camelot was destroyed and can never be as it was again. What you want is not Camelot. You want to rule with the weight and might of magic behind you. You have all the makings of a tyrant and I cannot allow this to happen. You had so much potential to do good deeds but you squandered that. You may be able to live forever but you cannot turn back the hands of Fate. I believe you learned that the hard way. Did you not?"

The Back Door burst open and Eve came stumbling through with her hair wild and her body bruised but not beaten. She immediately spotted Cassandra floating in the middle of the room and squinted at the light. "What the hell?"

"If you leave now I will be merciful," Vivien said in a commanding tone as she motioned to the door. "You will not be allowed to return here."

Dulaque stood, frozen, staring up at Vivien.

"I raised you," Vivien said with a sad sigh. "Do not force me to _end you_ as well."

When he still did not move Vivien began to float toward him. As soon as she headed toward him, Dulaque fled without a single look back.

"Who knew he could run like that?" Ezekiel asked with a smirk. "Actually, who knew he could run at all?"

"This may be an obvious question, but…is that _Cassandra_ floating like a ghost in the middle of the room?" Eve asked as her eyes stayed glued to the red head floating in midair.

"Technically, it's Vivien," Jenkins said with a sigh.

"Last time this happened she ran away with Cassandra's body," Jake said urgently. "I won't let-" he stopped and took a deep breath. "_We won't_ let that happen again."

Vivien slowly floated down to the floor and as her feet touched the ground Jenkins bowed briefly.

"My lady," he said with a blank expression.

"Galeas," she said with a polite nod. "I cannot maintain this for very long." She turned to Jake and smiled warmly at him. "Do not worry, I will return her to you. I merely thought you could use my assistance. If it comforts you at all I did ask her permission."

Stone said nothing but gave her an impassive look.

Vivien chuckled at him. "She was right. She told me that wouldn't help."

"So, you done?" Jake asked with a glare. "Last time you did this, Cassandra was passed out for a full day."

"Almost, Mr. Stone," Vivien said as she gave him an amused smile. "My aren't you the protective one." She turned back to Jenkins. "This place needs better protection."

"We do have security measures in place—" Jenkins began to say.

"Not enough of them. Cassandra tells me this is not the first time Dulaque has simply walked into The Annex. Your measures do not appear to work on him, do they?" Vivien asked knowingly. "I will cast a protection spell. It should keep the likes of Morgan and Dulaque from barging in as they please. Once I have done that, I will return the girl to you."

"How do we know you'll keep your word?" Ezekiel asked with a small glare of his own. "That's my friend you're wearing, you know."

Vivien chuckled at him and patted Ezekiel's cheek. Ezekiel tensed and concentrated on staying completely still. Supposedly, Vivien was one of the good guys but she was too powerful to be trusted. He learned at an early age that power corrupted everyone eventually.

"You try not to care, Thief, but it is a losing battle," Vivien said with a kind smile. "You already care deeply for these people."

"You didn't answer his question," Eve said with a stern glare.

"Faith and trust, Colonel," Vivien said simply.

With that Vivian turned and headed for the entrance to the Annex. She didn't carry herself like Cassandra. There was no bounce in her step and no warmth to her expressions. Vivien moved smoothly, effortlessly. Her expressions were all knowing and clearly held secrets none of them would ever be privileged to know. Someone else's presence with a familiar face made all of them uncomfortable. No one talked while Vivien wandered around the Annex mumbling latin and waving her arms. They all exchanged tense glances. Jacob and Jenkins took turns pacing the length of the room worriedly. Twenty minutes later the spell appeared to be complete and Vivien came to stand in front of Jacob.

"She will need lots of rest," Vivien told him. "I have no doubt you will take good care of her."

There was another flash of white and the glow that had been surrounding Cassandra for the last half hour vanished. She gasped loudly as the blue returned to her eyes and then she immediately slumped into Jacob. Her heavy lidded eyes met his and he breathed a sigh of relief. Cassandra was back. _His _Cassandra was back.

"Hi," she said softly with a weak smile.

He smiled warmly at her in return and held her tighter against him. "Hi. You okay?"

She nodded slowly but said nothing. He noticed she was gripping his shoulders tightly as if she couldn't quite stand on her own.

"Tired," she said finally. "Very tired."

She went completely slack in his arms as she passed out and he adjusted his hold to lift her.

Jenkins pointed to the hallway that extended past the kitchen. "The crash room is right where we left it last time she-"

"I remember," Jacob muttered as he walked off with Cassandra in his arms.


	22. Episode 04, Tag

**Tag: Fear**

* * *

Eve and Jenkins and Ezekiel watched Jacob leave with Cassandra before Eve turned to Jenkins with an urgent look.

"Should we expect that to happen more often? I thought Vivien was dead?" Eve asked in concern.

"Vivien will never truly die. Clearly, she still remains in Cassandra's consciousness somewhere. She's weak, though, very weak. She won't be able to do that again for a long while," Jenkins said thoughtfully. "And it appears she only did so because of the danger we were in."

Eve sighed and glanced up at the ceiling of The Annex. "I could really use that extra Guardian I was promised right about now. For times, _exactly like this_." She then turned back to Jenkins. "What happened while we were gone?"

"Dulaque and his henchman surprised us. I tried to fight him but it seems he's brushed up on his skills as a swordsman since last we met," Jenkins said with a sigh as he touched the small cut on his neck. "He sent Talos after you two and then stayed behind in case he failed."

"Talos?" She asked. "That was his name? Never quite caught it during our…_struggle_. I was a bit disappointed actually. Guy could stand to learn a thing or two from Lamia."

Ezekiel cleared his throat and the two looked over at him expectantly. He held out the case the Staff was in to Jenkins. "You may want to put this in a safe place."

"Oh! Yes, of course," Jenkins said as he took the case from Ezekiel. "This should be locked up in the Library right away. Excuse me."

Jenkins headed through the double doors to the Main Library and left Eve and Ezekiel alone.

"My first case realizing I actually care about you people and three of you end up in serious danger," Ezekiel said with a gulp and a frazzled sigh. "Is caring about people always this stressful?"

Despite the grave look on Ezekiel's face Eve couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"Yes, always, but the stress comes with perks too," Eve told him with a small smile. "You'll see." She paused and then hesitantly patted his shoulder with a proud grin. "Good job today, by the way. We got the Staff and kept it away from the bad guys. I call that a win."

"It doesn't feel like a win," Ezekiel said with a furrowed brow. "We got the Staff but I feel like we just have even more to worry about now."

Eve nodded in agreement and gave him a sympathetic look. "That's 'cause we do. The Serpent Brotherhood is alive and well, and apparently so is Vivien. And we still have Morgan le Fay hanging over our heads. We won the battle but the war is still ongoing."

"Well, that's fun," Ezekiel said sarcastically. "As are most situations that involve the battle and war metaphor."

Eve smirked at him but didn't bother to respond. The kid had a point.

He sighed and then pointed to the hallway that led to the crash room. "I'm going to go check on Stone and Cassandra."

Eve nodded at him briefly before she walked over to her desk and began scribbling in a small notebook. He wasn't sure what she was doing but she seemed focused on it now. When Ezekiel arrived at the room he found Jake tucking the blankets around Cassandra. He watched silently as Jake placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"She's gonna be okay, you know," Ezekiel said from the doorway.

Stone tensed for a moment and Ezekiel knew he'd seen something he shouldn't have. It didn't matter that he and Cassandra had all but given themselves completely away back there. Stone still felt they couldn't know. Ezekiel wondered who's idea it was to keep it a secret and he hoped, for Cassandra's sake, it wasn't Jake's.

"I know she'll be okay," Jake said gruffly as he stepped back to join Ezekiel in the doorway. "I just wish she didn't have to deal with this in the first place. She has headaches and dizzy spells an nose bleeds and—"

"No siezures in a while though," Ezekiel pointed out with a small encouraging smile.

"No, no siezures," Stone said with a scoff. "Just a whole new consciousness inside of her head that talks to her and could potentially take ov—" Stone cut off his own sentence as if he didn't want to finish it. As if he didn't want to even _think_ about what he was going to say out of fear of making it come true.

Ezekiel knew exactly how he felt and what he was trying his hardest not to say. They two fell into a tense silence as they both stared worriedly at Cassandra's unconscious form on the bed in front of them. It was true they cared about her in very different ways but they both cared for her deeply.

Finally, after a long moment of thoughts that spiraled into worst case scenarios and feelings of helplessness, Jake spoke with a voice that was thick with emotion. "What if the next time Vivien shows up _Cassandra_ doesn't make it back?"

For the life of him, Ezekiel couldn't think of a response. He had no idea what to say or how to reply. He gulped back his own fears and worries and hesitated a moment before he placed, what he hoped was, a supportive hand on Stone's shoulder. He had no words so his small gesture would have to do. He hoped Stone understood that small gestures weren't really his strong suit. Jacob Stone's fears were realistic ones. What he suggested was well within the realm of possibility and that terrified Ezekiel too. It terrified him more than anything had in a very long time.

And the worst part was, there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.


	23. Episode 05, Cold Open

And the Possibilities

Episode 05: …And the Call of the Wild

By angellwings

* * *

Cold Open: Unexpected

* * *

Jake and Ezekiel returned from checking on Cassandra the morning following the Vivien incident and she was still sound asleep. Jake would have stayed all night if Ezekiel and Jenkins hadn't talked him into at least going home to shower and change. He ended up laying down on his bed for a moment and falling asleep for several hours.

"How is she?" Baird asked as she handed Jacob a to go cup full of black coffee.

"Sleeping," Jacob muttered. "No telling when she'll wake up."

"Vivien didn't have control as long this time," Ezekiel pointed out. "She should need less sleep this time around. I would think."

"But the spell Vivien performed is not an easy spell," Jenkins advised them from his podium on the other end of the room. "She would have needed to tap into Cassandra's magic as well as her own. The length of time may not be relevant in this instance."

"That's encouraging," Jacob said with a sigh.

"It'll be okay, Stone," Baird said reassuringly. "We'd rather her get all the rest she needs now than suffer the consequences later. She'll be up and around before you know it."

He scratched the back of his neck and avoided their gazes as he nodded wordlessly. He didn't seem convinced, but what more could anyone say?

The Back Door suddenly began to glow and shake and rumble and the four of them turned to face it.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Stone exclaimed. "I thought Vivien took care of this? Who the hell could this possibly be?"

Eve's hand rested on the gun on her hip, Ezekiel edged his way closer to the exit but remembered not to hide, Jenkins sighed tiredly and shook his head, and Jake grabbed the closest thing he could find. Which turned out to be a lasso, oddly enough. Why did the Annex have a lasso? He shook his thoughts away and focused on the door again. A strong wind blew the door open and leaves blew in with it. Jacob knew this because one smacked him in the face.

Two figures appeared through the wind and the light. They skidded to a stop in the Annex and then immediately turned to shut the doors.

"A little help, please?!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Flynn?" Baird asked with a start as she took her hand off of her gun and rushed to help push the doors closed. Ezekiel and Jake quickly joined them and that's when Jake realized who Flynn had with him.

"Natsuki?" Ezekiel asked before Jake could voice it himself. "Creepy Fox lady?"

She rolled her eyes at him and glared. "_Kitsune_. I'm a Kitsune."

"Yeah, okay," He said with a smirk. Jacob got the feeling he knew that, but preferred to play dumb to irritate her.

The thief was gonna irritate the wrong person someday and get himself in some real trouble. Jacob just hoped he was around to see it. Ezekiel's glance drifted away from Natsuki's face and his eyes widened when they reached her arm.

"What happened to you?" He asked as he pointed to the large gushing scratch on her arm.

Natsuki winced and then cradled her arm closer to her. "My sister happened."

"Okay," Eve said as she took Natsuki's other arm and steered her toward the first aid supplies she kept in her desk. "What did we miss?" She pointed to Flynn and gave him a stern glare. "And what happened to that 'harmless' case you told me you were on, huh?"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey! I _was_ on a harmless case! It's not my fault that Foxy and Loxy decided to take sibling rivalry a bit too far in roughly the same location as my artifact!"

Eve gave him a doubtful look and then opened up the first aid kit to pull out her roll of gauze. She then began to clean Natsuki's wound. "What happened?" She asked other woman.

"I wish I knew," Natsuki said with an emotional gulp. "I've been looking for Sakura for two weeks. We split up to hunt a nogitsune and then she dropped off the face of the earth. I talked the phone company into tracking her phone and telling me where she was a couple of days ago. I was asking around and I was pointed toward those woods. The minute I got there she attacked me. She wouldn't talk to me. She just snarled and glared. It—it wasn't like her at all!"

"Nogitsune possession?" Jake asked her worriedly.

Natsuki shook her head. "No. This was different. She was still Sakura. But she was all instinct! She was—"

"Feral," Flynn finished for her. "No other word for it. Wild. Less human than when we saw her in Owayne."

"What did you do to piss her off?" Ezekiel asked Natsuki.

Natsuki huffed and then winced as Eve started to stitch up the scratch. "I didn't do anything. I don't know what's going on with her. Something must have happened after she fell off the map."

"And you didn't call us because?" Jenkins asked seriously as he began flipping through a specific drawer on the card catalogue. "You knew Sakura would never vanish without warning."

"I didn't think I needed help," she muttered with a huff. "Sakura wouldn't need help."

"The Lady Sakura is more experienced with these matters than you," Jenkins told her with a scolding look. "It takes time to be as competent as she is."

"Hey! I'm nearly 300 years old! That's not exactly young, you know!" Natsuki said indignantly.

Jenkins scoffed and then smirked at her. "It is to me. It is to _her_."

Natsuki rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, I get it. I'm stupid and young. But I'm here now. I'm asking for help _now_. Isn't that what's important?"

"Wait, you're 300 years old?" Ezekiel asked with a horrified expression.

"_Nearly_ 300\. My birthdays in two months," she corrected him.

"O-kay," he said slowly with a furrowed brow.

Jacob bit back a chuckle at the shocked looked on the younger man's face. He remembered how he reacted to Mabel's age during the Collins Falls case and Mabel was young compared to Natsuki.

Silence fell over the room as Eve continued to stitch Natsuki up and Jenkins pulled several cards and books. The silence was only interrupted by a wince from Natsuki every few minutes. Once she was done Eve wrapped Natsuki's arm with gauze to keep it clean. Jenkins emerged from the stacks with several more books that he placed on the center of the research table.

"Flynn," Jenkins asked as he pointed to the Head Librarian. "What were you investigating?"

"Reports of house pets vanishing in the middle of the night. Nearly a whole town full of them," he answered.

"And Sakura seemed animal like, did she?" He asked Natsuki.

"Yes," she said with a worried sigh.

"It would seem to me that the two events may be, in fact, related," Jenkins told them as he motioned to the books he'd pulled. "I took the liberty of pulling information on any artifact that may have the ability to control nature or animals in any way. We will research these items to narrow the list down even further."

Ezekiel grimaced and huffed. "Ugh, research."

"Yes, Mr. Jones, research. Grab a book," Jenkins told him with a tired sigh. "You are a Librarian after all."

"Yes, but not an _actual_ librarian," Ezekiel said with a scoff as he picked up a book. "This job is supposed to be about adventure. Not…moldy old books. None of these books are even in English! I can't read these! I mean, this one's in Japanese!"

"Oh!" Natsuki said as she took it out of his hand. "I'll take that one. Thank you. I'm useless with the Romance Languages."

"Why are none of these books in English?" Ezekiel asked in irritation. Jacob looked up and shrugged with a smirk. Ezekiel glared at him. "Yeah, of course you don't care. You speak every language in existence."

"Not every language," Stone said with a grin. "My Urdu's a little rusty."

"Sometimes I really despise you," Ezekiel said with a sigh.

Jacob chuckled and nodded. "Feeling's mutual, Jones."

Jenkins gave Ezekiel a frustrated glance and then shoved a book with a French title in his hand before he spoke. "You've got one of those inteilliphones—"

"_Smart_ phones," Ezekiel interrupted him.

"Yes, yes, that. Surely it has something you can use to help you translate," Jenkins said with a shake of his head. "Now let's go! Tempus fugit! A former Guardian is in need of our help!"

Four of the six people in the room froze and looked up at him with bewildered expressions.

"What?"

"Guardian?"

"Excuse me?"

Ezekiel chuckled at the three simultaneous responses of his colleagues and then put the French book back on the table as he sat down and propped up his feet. "Now, this is a story I have to hear."


	24. Episode 05, Act 01

_...And the Possibilities_

_Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild_

_by angellwings_

* * *

_Act 01: __Research_

* * *

_"Now this is a story I have to hear."_

"What's a story you have to hear?" A tired voice asked from behind the group.

Jake was up and across the room quicker than anyone expected and Cassandra smiled softly at him as he approached.

"You're up," He said happily.

She nodded. "All better."

Jake's smiled turned into a stern thin line and he quirked a brow at her. "I'm not so sure about _that_."

"Jacob," Cassandra said with a sigh and an understanding smile. "I'm fine. I promise." She then turned a bright smile to the rest of the room. "I want to hear this story. What did I miss? Why is Natsuki here?" Cassandra waved at Natsuki excitedly and then sat down in her regular chair. Jake remained standing for a moment and watched her carefully. Finally, she huffed and turned to face him in exasperation. She patted his chair impatiently. "You can relax, you know. Vivien is done for now."

"For now?" Baird asked worriedly. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Me either," Jake mumbled as he reluctantly sat down.

"Can we move on, please?" Cassandra asked. "We can talk about it later. What's been happening?"

"Sakura's gone crazy—"

Natsuki growled at Ezekiel and he cut off his own sentence.

"Let me finish," he told Natsuki with a smirk. "We're researching artifacts that could control animals to save her and apparently she's a former Guardian."

"She was a Guardian?" Cassandra asked with wide bright eyes. "That's so cool! Who was her Librarian?"

"Excellent question, Cassandra," Flynn said as he turned an interested gaze on Jenkins. "Which Librarian did Sakura work with? I can't believe no one ever told me we'd once had a Kitsune as a Guardian! That's something I feel like I should know."

"We have work to do," Jenkins said with a huff. "We have no time for stories. I want it narrowed down to at least three items in the next half hour."

Jenkins grabbed a book off the table and then marched into his lab.

"He could at least _pretend_ not to avoid the question," Ezekiel said with an amused grin.

The room dissolved into alternating talk about Jenkins and what they were each researching. Natsuki snuck away while they were distracted. She found Jenkins in his lab pouring over a catalogue of mythological items and their various effects on the world. She leaned against his work table and cleared her throat to get his attention.

He jumped slightly and then glared at her. "I realize one of the many assets of your kind is how swift you are, but please try not to sneak up on me. Will you?"

"Why haven't you told them?" Natsuki asked curiously.

"Told them what?" He asked as he feigned innocence.

"No way, don't play that with me. It may have been over a century since we saw you last but I know too much. Sakura regales me with stories of the glory days all the time," Natsuki told him. "I wasn't there but I know. I _know_ you were a Librarian. So why don't they?"

"What is the point in talking about the past?" He asked her irritably. "It will not change it and it is not relevant to the current situation. Or do you wish them to be _distracted_ from saving your sister?"

She rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "Of course not. But they seem to respect you so much. I just thought…I thought you might share it with them. But it's none of my business."

"No, it is not," he told her.

"These Librarians," Natsuki said as she glanced back at the door to the lab worriedly. "They're good at what they do right? Because my sister's life sort of depends on them. And I can't…she's all I have. We have to get her back." Natsuki gripped the work table as she spoke and her eyes shined with unshed tears.

Jenkins gave the woman a sympathetic look and reached across the table to pat her hand. "Do not tell them I said this but…they're the best of the best. They'll come through for you _and _Sakura. Trust them."

"Easier said than done," She admitted with a sigh. "It's just been me and Sakura for so long. I feel like I can't do this without her. I mean she's the one who—she's better at this than me. She's more knowledgeable and experienced—"

"Despite what I said earlier, Natsuki, I do not believe that's true," Jenkins told her. "You're very capable of standing on your own two feet."

Natsuki scoffed. "If Sakura were here instead of me, she would have figured it out by now."

"Magical Pipe of Hamelin!" Flynn exclaimed as he strolled into the lab and interrupted them. "It can control animals and people. It's possible it could control hybrids of both."

Jenkins nodded his agreement. "And it is not currently in the Library's inventory." He turned toward his blackboard and wrote out Flynn's suggestion. "There's one. Any other ideas floating around out there?"

Cassandra entered not long after Flynn with Jacob following close behind and she placed an open copy of a textbook on Greek Mythology in front of him. "The Pipes of Pan."

"Ah, yes," Jenkins said with a nod. "Once in our inventory but stolen during the Brotherhood's raid. Very possible. And should that be our artifact it would be easy to locate." He scribbled Cassandra's suggestion next to Flynn's.

"Why's that again?" Jake asked with a furrowed brow.

"Displays of nature's wrath. Between Cassandra, Flynn, and myself we could easily track and calculate weather and disaster patterns," Jenkins reminded him.

Cassandra's eyes lit up and she clapped happily. "Oh, I love weather patterns! Crossing my fingers!"

Natsuki blinked at her and then chuckled. "Wow, I have never in my life crossed my fingers in the _hopes_ of doing math."

Cassandra giggled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm good at it."

Jake snorted and smirked at her. "Just good at it?"

"Okay, I'm exceptional at it," Cassandra said with a smirk. "I just don't like to brag….often."

"Jenkins, didn't you once suggest Aesop's Lyre to us?" Eve asked as she and Ezekiel wondered into the lab.

"Ah! Yes! I did! Excellent suggestion, Colonel Baird. Aesop's Lyre could in fact be a factor in our current situation," Jenkins agreed before he turned, once again, and wrote the possibility on the board. "Three strong candidates." He then turned to Natsuki with a sigh. "All of which mean you cannot be in the field."

Her brow furrowed and she glared at him. "No! No way! This is my sister! I'm helping! You're not benching me on this one."

"He's right, though," Eve added. "It's too much of a risk. We can't have whatever this is turning you against us too."

Natsuki's jaw clenched and she huffed. She swallowed thickly and shook her head. "I refuse to stay behind. She's my sister and _for once_ she needs me! I plan to be there for her. No matter what."

"Natsuki," Jenkins said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I understand wanting to contribute but—"

"Not to interrupt, Mr. Jenkins," Cassandra said hesitantly with a small hand raise. "But don't we have the Ring of Dispell in the Library now? Flynn and Colonel Baird retrieved it, didn't they?"

"Yes, we did," Flynn said with confused face.

"The Ring of Dispell makes the wearer immune to all spells, curses, and enchantments. Couldn't we loan Natsuki the ring? She wouldn't be turned against us if she were wearing the ring and then she could help out," Cassandra suggested as she smiled encouragingly at Natsuki. "Couldn't she?"

"Oh yes! I will wear whatever jewelry you want if it will get me into the field," Natsuki told them with an eager nod. "Please?" She turned a pleading look on Jenkins who sighed tiredly and gave an expectant look at The Head Librarian.

"This would be Mr. Carsen's call," Jenkins said as he deferred to the younger man.

Flynn gave Jenkins a slight glare. Eve had tensed and crossed her arms over chest. A clear sign that she was against the idea but both Cassandra and Natsuki were giving him hopeful pleading looks. He had no good choices here. But then…there were three artifacts remaining and only five people currently ready to go out in the field. Four, if Cassandra got the pushback from Jacob and Eve that the Head Librarian anticipated. They could use another body to help them search.

"I don't see why not," Flynn said after a long moment. He couldn't resist Cassandra's pleading eyes if he tried. "We could use the extra set of eyes anyway."

Natsuki shot Cassandra a grateful look and Cassandra shrugged as if to tell her it wasn't a big deal.

Baird chose that moment to add her thoughts on the current case. "Fine, but Cassandra stays here."

Cassandra froze and turned a glare on Colonel Baird. "_What?"_ She turned to look at Jacob for help but he pointedly avoided her gaze and studied the floor of Jenkins's lab. Cassandra huffed and rolled her eyes at him. "You can't do that! I'm fine! I'm all rested up! Vivien said all I needed was rest. Well, I got it. There's nothing wrong with me. I can help!"

"Cassandra, you can still help. Just from the Annex with Jenkins," Baird said with an apologetic glance.

"This is ridiculous! I thought that once I got rid of the tumor everyone would stop treating me like I was so fragile! But apparently I was wrong," Cassandra said angrily. "I'm not going to break. I can do this."

"Why exactly is she being kept out of the field?" Natsuki asked curiously.

"I was recently possessed by the Lady of the Lake and they're all afraid she's going to randomly take over again if I'm out in the field in a high stress situation," Cassandra said with a sigh. "Even though Jenkins and myself have told them that Vivien is drained. She will not be able to take control again for a very long time, and even then she would need _my permission_. I am fine to work and I refuse to be left here! I'm a Librarian too, you know!"

"Here or there, it's still gonna be high stress for her," Natsuki said with a furrowed brow as she turned to face Eve. "Either she'll be here worried about all of you or she'll be there contributing to finding the artifact. Besides, isn't it better to have the girl who can calculate weather patterns in her head _out in the field_? I mean one of our three artifacts may cause natural disasters. That makes her a resource we should use, doesn't it? Isn't that what your experience with strategy tells you, Colonel Baird?"

Eve's face became impassive and her mouth set in a thin line. She shifted her weight as she gave Natsuki a considering glance. Cassandra beamed at Natsuki and then turned a proud smile on Eve. The logic of Natsuki's argument was hard to dispute. Cassandra was definitely an asset to fieldwork. They all knew it.

Eve sighed and then nodded reluctantly. "Fine. I suppose you have a point. But we research our artifacts in pairs and if anyone needs to leave the Annex to investigate you clear it with me or Flynn first. Clear?"

The three Junior Librarians and Natsuki nodded in response.

"So, how are we splitting up?" Jacob asked The Guardian.

She tensed and then looked between the five people in the room. That was an excellent question. On one hand, she feared Flynn would get out of control or distracted while researching and chasing down their artifact. But on the other, the Junior Librarians were less experienced. They'd gotten better at handling themselves in a fight but sending them out without her still worried her.

Natsuki raised her hand to get Eve's attention. "I'm well trained in hand to hand. I can also handle a blade. You could send me with one of the LiTs. That would free you up to work with The Librarian."

Did she trust Natsuki enough to take care of one of her charges? Did she have a choice? The answer to the latter was definitely no.

Eve took a deep nervous breath and then nodded. "Alright, Stone and Cassandra, Pipes of Pan. Go." They both nodded and exchanged awkward glances before they headed toward the door for the Main Library. Cassandra was obviously still upset with Stone for not siding with her. "Ezekiel and Natsuki, Magical Pipes of Hamelin. Flynn and I will take Aesop's Lyre."

"I will go retrieve the Ring of Dispell from the Library," Jenkins offered. "You'll need it sooner rather than later, I'd imagine."

"Thank you, Jenkins," Eve told him before she sighed in exasperation. She turned to Flynn and with a glare. "You just had to agree to put this girl in the field, didn't you? You couldn't resist Cassandra's doe eyes."

"I—oh like you can?" Flynn asked her with a challenging tone.

"Yes, I can actually," Eve said with a roll of her eyes. "We've only worked with Natsuki one time. How do I know I can trust her with my Trainees?"

"Considering the Library's bringing you a new Guardian soon, I'd say you'd better start. You can't be with them all the time, Eve," Flynn told her gently. "You can't keep doing double the work forever."

She watched Ezekiel and Natsuki head into the Library nervously before Flynn came over and placed a comforting hand on the small of her back.

"Baby steps," he told her as he placed a quick kiss on her temple. "We did graduate them after all."

"Yeah, why did we do that again?"

He chuckled at her and then gave her a sympathetic smile. "I believe, Guardian, _you_ told me they were ready."

"They may be, but I'm starting to realize that…_I'm not_."


	25. Episode 05, Act 02

**A/N: **Please keep in mind that I had the idea to use the Pipes after seeing them in one of the films and after seeing them on Jenkins board in Fables. Long before they showed up in season 2 promos.

Thank you! Happy reading!

angellwings

* * *

...And the Possibilities

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

by angellwings

* * *

Act 02: The Big Picture

* * *

"So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Natsuki asked Ezekiel as they searched through the stacks of the main Library.

"Looking for more information on the Magical Pipe of Hamelin," Ezekiel said with a sigh. "Boring stuff."

"Magical Pipe of…What is that again?" She asked him as they walked.

"The pipe played by the Pied Piper that lured all the rats out of town and then all the children when the town refused to pay the Piper," Ezekiel told her. "That's where the expression comes from, you know. To 'pay the piper'?"

She blinked at him in surprise. "You just sounded like The Librarian."

He stopped and his eyes widened. "Oh God, I did didn't I?"

She chuckled at him. "You don't exactly seem like the type," she told him honestly. "I mean, no offense, but I've met a lot of Librarians over the last 299 years and you are pretty much the complete opposite of them."

"Yeah, well, in the past few months I've met several immortals and supernatural beings and you aren't like any of _them_ either," he told her with a smirk as he motioned to her outfit. "None of them have worn _that_."

She looked down at her combat boots, cargo skinny jeans, and black leather bomber jacket and then back up at him with a knowing grin. "I've always been a bit of black sheep."

He gave her a brief serious glance as if he wanted to say something else but quickly looked down at the note in his hand. "According to Jenkins, what we need should be right here." He turned to face one of the seemingly unending shelves and scanned the book spines.

"I thought Librarians did a lot of running," she said with a bored huff. "I mean we did last time."

"Last time was more your job than ours," he reminded her. "Unfortunately, I've discovered that this job is equal parts research and running."

"My job is a lot punching and kicking. And dodging projectiles. And, you know, containing evil spirits," she said as he began to pull books and hand them to her. "We know everything we need to know typically. How do you guys find anything in here?"

Ezekiel chuckled and shrugged. "I don't. Jenkins does. Flynn does too. I can't find anything in this place. Unless it's an artifact. I can find those. But books? I'm totally lost."

He took the last few books and then led her to a nearby work table.

"What are we looking for in these books?" She asked as she set them down and scanned the titles.

"Symptoms of the Pipe being used. Anything that would indicate someone's using it or anything that would eliminate it," he told her.

"Thrilling," she said sarcastically.

They looked through the books in silence for a few minutes before Natsuki huffed and slammed her book closed.

"This is a waste of time," she said irritably. "I should be out there searching for her." She threw the book down on the table with a loud thud and then began to pace next to the table. Ezekiel looked up from his book and watched her curiously. "She would never sit around and research if I were in trouble. Of course, if this situation were reversed I wouldn't have been in trouble at all because Sakura would have stopped whatever this was before it happened. Because she's perfect. And I'm…"

She froze as she remembered she wasn't alone and gave Ezekiel a hesitant glance.

"The screw up?" He asked reluctantly. "You think you're the screw up? Am I right?"

"Well, let me put it this way, I'm here begging for help instead of busting down doors and doing everything it takes to find her," Natsuki said as she crossed her arms over chest and leaned against one of the shelves. "She always covers my ass. I mess up, she makes it work. That's how this goes. This time it's on me. What if this all goes bad because I'm not ready to repay the favor?"

Ezekiel nodded in understanding and then stood up to join her by the shelf she was leaning against. "Before this place. Before The Library…I worked solo. Never really wanted to be a part of team. I thought I could handle anything on my own. It took me a while, but eventually I realized…asking for help isn't a weakness," he told her. "Especially, if it isn't easy for you to do. And seeking help actually _is_ doing something. Sometimes, you need people who see more of the picture than you. And that's what we're here for, to help you see the big picture. Besides, she's your sister right?" He asked. Natsuki nodded thoughtfully. "You'd do anything to keep her safe, wouldn't you?" She nodded again before he continued. "Then you'll be fine. Somebody recently helped me realize that caring about people actually _helps_ in these situations. You clearly care about her so I have no doubt you'll get her back."

"I wish I was as confident as you seem to be," she said with a sigh.

He scoffed and smirked at her. "No one's ever as confident as I seem to be."

Her tortured expression lightened for a minute as she chuckled at him and shook her head. He felt a little bit of pride at brightening her mood. Even if it was only for a moment. As quickly as she'd brightened it was gone again and she stepped away from him to go back to the work table. He tried not to sigh as the moment passed and hoped he'd actually helped. It was hard to tell with her.

She cleared her throat as he sat down across from her again and then gave him a sheepish smile. "Hey, Jones?"

"Yeah?" He asked in response.

"Thanks," she told him briefly.

He nodded with a small grin but said nothing. There was a lingering moment that he couldn't seem to describe before they both went back to their research.

Well, he thought, that was different.

* * *

"The last reports of Aesop's Lyre were where?" Flynn asked as Eve and Jenkins flipped through various books and journals.

"Illinois, 2004," Eve said as she read off of an article she found. "A professor researching dialect translations of the fables had, what was considered to be, a nervous breakdown and claimed animals were seeking him out to speak with him. Students claimed to see him around campus with a, quote, u-shaped harp."

Jenkins nodded from his podium. "He and the Lyre both vanished without a trace."

"That was ten years ago," Flynn said with a sigh. "Would the lyre be able to turn someone into more of a beast, though? Yes, it can make animals seem more human, but would it work the other way around?"

"I wouldn't dismiss it," Jenkins told him. "There's no precedence for it but that doesn't mean it's not possible."

"Precedence would be helpful though," Eve said with a huff. "So would having some trace of it passed 2004. But I've come to learn that the information available in this job isn't always helpful."

Jenkins smirked slightly and nodded in agreement.

The went back to reading, to try and find more clues. When suddenly Jenkins looked up from the monitor he'd been watching.

"It's not the Lyre," He announced firmly.

Eve and Flynn looked curiously in his direction and Jenkins responded by pointing to the monitor he was watching. They gathered behind him.

"Weather radar?" Flynn asked.

"You ran into Natsuki and Sakura here," Jenkins said as he pointed to particular portion of Georgia. "Half an hour ago, there was no storm anywhere near Georgia," Jenkins told him. "Suddenly, there's a massive thunderstorm brewing."

"Signs of Nature's Wrath," Flynn said with a nod. "Of course."

"The Lyre would not result in a thunderstorm," Jenkins reminded him.

"No, but we know what would," Flynn said just before the Clippings Book rattled on the other side of the room. "The Pipes of Pan."

"Looks like we're finally getting some help," Eve said as she crossed the room and stood in front of the book. "It's a flyer for a circus. Looks like it stopped in Valdosta, Georgia."

"Just a few miles from the storm. A circus, of course. What better place to practice control over animals?" Flynn said with a quirked brow.

"Is that what they do?" Eve asked. "Control animals?"

"Yes," Flynn told her. "Similar to the Magical Pipe of Hamelin that Ezekiel and Natsuki are researching. But the Pipes have the ability to inspire aggression as well as submission. Used properly the Pipes have their purpose, but in the wrong hands you could raise a wild and vicious army."

"Just what we need," Eve said sarcastically before she turned to Jenkins. "Okay, we'll go check it out first. Let the others know to research The Pipes of Pan. We need to know how to reverse whatever control it has over Sakura."

Jenkins nodded. "Of course."

"Let's go, Librarian," Eve said with a grin as she motioned to the back door. "Dial it up."

Flynn dialed up Valdosta, Georgia and Guardian and Librarian stepped through immediately after. Eyes peeled for danger or signs of their target artifact.

* * *

Since splitting off to research The Pipes of Pan, Cassandra had barely said two words to him. He was reading up on the myths and the first hand accounts of the Pipes the Library had while Cassandra reviewed weather maps and current Doppler readings. She had the idea of trying to get ahead of any weather anomalies that might result from someone using the Pipes. She wasn't happy with him. That much was clear. He hadn't stuck up for her in front of Baird.

He shut the book he'd been reading when he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Cassie."

"Quiet," she said in a snippy tone. "I'm doing math."

"We need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" She asked. "How you obviously don't want me out in the field anymore? Or how you totally didn't have my back in there? Natsuki had to be the one to say something. _Natsuki_. She barely knows me and you're my—" She stopped and sighed. "We have work to do, Jacob. This is not the time."

"I love working with you, you know that," he told her as he slid his chair closer to hers. "It had nothing to do with that. And I couldn't stand up to Baird because I…well I don't disagree with her."

Her jaw clenched and she turned to face him with a glare. The heat in that glare was like nothing he'd ever seen from her before.

"High stress is not what brought on Vivien's possession!" She yelled at him with frustration on her face. She stood from her chair and began to pace next to him. She kept her glare focused on the floor as she vented at him. "Vivien knew the threat better than we did. Vivien had the control to get us all through it safely. I _let_ her take over because of that. Yes, Jacob, she asked for my permission and I said yes. You and Jenkins and Ezekiel were all at risk. Not to mention, the entire world if Dulaque had gotten that staff. I made a decision. _Me_. I had a choice in it! Vivien told you that. Yet, everyone here seems to think she just steam rolled me in the heat of the moment. Like _I_ was too weak to fend her off. And I can't decide what's more offensive: the both of you assuming it's your job to tell me what to do _or_ the both of you completely underestimating me. I graduated too. I have a book. _I_ do not have to work with the team. And, really, if you all think I'm too weak to be in the field why should I?"

Okay, this was spiraling way out of control. Now she was thinking of leaving the team? Of leaving _him_? So maybe he should have actually heard Vivien when she told him Cassandra had given her permission and maybe he should realize by now that Cassandra is stronger than any of them know. But he wasn't _trying_ to hold her back. He just wanted…

"I'm just trying to keep you safe, Cassandra," he said softly he leaned forward in his seat and placed his elbows on his knees. "We've got time now. You've got time. But if Morgan gets a hold of you or Vivien decides to take control that time is gone. _You're_ gone. We just found each other. There's no way I'm going to lose you. Not for a very long time." He stood up then and stood in the path of her pacing. "We just started whatever this is and I want to keep it going. I want to keep you around. What you're facing now-whatever this is…I can't fight it for you or with you even. I can't see it. I can't protect you from it. I'm helpless. And I _hate_ being helpless. Especially when it comes to protecting the people that I lo—that I care about."

That's when she finally noticed how tense he was. His hands were clenched so tight his knuckles were white and the way he was standing in front of her was too…_stiff_. Too straight. Like if he didn't stand up straight he'd fall over. Her glare immediately softened as the worried and upset image of him clicked in her brain. Oh her poor Jacob, she thought as her eyes began to water and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying. She slowly approached him and took his fisted hands in hers. She brought one hand to her lips and placed a soft kiss on his knuckles. She felt his fists relax in her hands as she did so and then released his hands to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I care about you too," she told him softly as she met his eyes. "But if I'm going to be here then I want to be an equal. And I know you worry about me. I know everyone worries about me. But I'm not as fragile as people think. I know the risks of having Vivien in my head and it scares me too, but it's worth it if it allows us to save the world on more than one occasion. I appreciate that you want to have me around for a very long time, Jacob Stone. I'd like that too. But keeping me at the Annex is wasting my skills and my time."

"I know," He agreed in hoarse voice. "I just wish I could do something about…_any of this_. You don't deserve to have to worry about Vivien or any of the other things you face because of _this," _he said as he brought his hands up and gently grazed his thumbs over her temples. "I want to help you fight it."

She smiled warmly at him. "You do help. You help by just being here. I've never really had that. I've never had that one steady person who sticks with you no matter what. Having _that_ after all these years…having _you_. It helps. It helps more than you know."

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and then smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so overprotective."

"I'm sorry too," she told him. "I would never leave. I shouldn't threaten you with it. That was a low blow."

"Yeah, that kinda hurt," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," she repeated as she leaned in to place a quick gentle kiss on his lips. "I won't do it again. I hated it the minute I said it."

"Well, just remember that if you ever actually do leave…I'm following you," he told her honestly. "You're stuck with me now, Cassie. You know that, right?"

She nodded and kissed him again. "Ditto."


	26. Episode 05, Act 03

...And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

Episode 05: And the Call of the Wild

Act 03: The Lead

* * *

After Flynn and Eve left through the Back Door, Jenkins tracked down Ezekiel and Natsuki. He gave Natsuki the Ring of Dispell and then advised them to find Jacob and Cassandra to assist them with research on The Pipes of Pan. The signs of natural disasters confirmed which artifact they were looking for. They quickly put away their information and ran through the stacks toward where Jacob and Cassandra would be.

They found them hard at work. The tension that was between them had faded and Cassandra was currently marking exes on a topography map while looked at weather maps on her laptop. She spun invisible calculations in the air while Jacob read up on the mythology of the Pipes. He had pulled the journals of The Librarian who had originally obtained the Pipes to figure out how he'd managed to do it and what the effects of them were.

"Jenkins said Flynn and Colonel Baird are out tracking down a lead," Ezekiel said as they caught up with the other two.

"A lead?" Jacob asked. "From where?"

"The big Clippings Book," Ezekiel answered.

"Ah! Got it!" Cassie said excitedly as she tapped the air. "The next storm will be…" she paused and then marked a red x on the topography map. "Here."

Natsuki stepped up next to her and leaned over her shoulder. "Tallahassee? But Jenkins said Baird and Flynn went to Georgia. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Cassandra said archly as she gave Natsuki a flat look. "I'm always sure."

Natsuki's brows rose and she nodded apologetically. "Right, okay. Good to know."

"Yeah, never question Cassandra and math," Ezekiel advised her with a grin. "She's Math Girl."

"Jones," Cassandra said with a huff.

"Also, she doesn't like being called Math Girl," he added with a chuckle.

"Which means you call her that all the time?" Natsuki asked him.

"Of course."

"Got anything on how to use the Pipes?" Natsuki asked Jacob.

"I think so," Jacob admitted. "But there's a bit of Greek here I'm not sure how to translate. It has multiple meanings."

"Maybe the previous Librarian was able to translate it?" Cassandra asked as she left her maps to pick up the journal and hand it to him.

He had bookmarked the entry about the Pipes and opened up to it. "I haven't even glanced at this yet." He scanned through the entry and nodded. "Okay, so we are definitely looking at the Pipes of Pan here. He's describing the same occurrences—" Jacob abruptly stopped reading and grabbed Cassandra's notebook off the table. She opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut it again as he started scribbling. She gave him a small glare and then crossed her arms in a pout. He didn't notice as he finished writing and then spoke to the group. "According to the previous Librarian, in order to undo the control over the animals we have to get the Pipes and play _those_ notes."

He handed the notebook to Cassandra and she took it from him with a sigh.

"What?" He asked cluelessly.

Her pouty expression melted into an amused smile and she chuckled briefly before patting his cheek. "Nothing."

"You know you two are totally obvious, right?" Natsuki asked the couple with a smirk.

Cassandra looked alarmed and glanced over at her. "What?"

Ezekiel laughed and then grinned at them while shaking his head.

"This," Natsuki said as she pointed between Jacob and Cassandra. "It's very _not_ subtle."

"Jones," Jacob said with a huff. "What did you tell her?"

Ezekiel held his hands up and gave them an innocent smile. "I said nothing. I promise."

"Wait," Cassandra said with a furrowed brow. "How does _he_ know?" She asked Jacob.

Jacob blushed bashfully and then rubbed the back of his neck. "He may have seen me looking after you after Vivien…left."

"And then there was the casual way he called you 'sweetheart'. He's never done that before," Ezekiel added. "That gave it away before the kiss to the forehead, mate."

Jacob looked surprised and then thoughtful as he tried to remember and then gave Cassandra a sheepish smile. "My fault."

Cassandra couldn't help but to smile affectionately at him and then kiss his cheek. "Well, I can hardly blame you for that." She then turned an urgent expression on Ezekiel. "Does everyone else know?"

"Baird and Jenkins, probably. Flynn wasn't here and he's oblivious so I'd say he's clueless," Ezekiel told her.

Cassandra sighed. "Well, that's going to be a fun conversation to have with Colonel Baird."

"What? What's she gonna say?" Natsuki asked. "It's not like she's not sleeping with her Librarian anyway."

All three of the Junior Librarians turned to give her awkward glances.

"Um, we don't talk about that," Jacob said with a grimace. "It's like…"

"Thinking about your parents…or your aunt and uncle or something," Cassandra said as she finished his sentence. She wrinkled her nose up in slight disgust as she continued. "I mean sometimes they're adorable, but I don't want to think about it beyond that."

"I know enough about women as uptight as Baird to know I really don't want to know how she…decompresses," Ezekiel said with a shudder.

Natsuki laughed at the three of them. "Aw, you're all adorable. But for your sakes, I'll never bring it up again."

"That's all we ask," Ezekiel said as he tried to shake the images away with another shudder. "_Please_ let's get back to the case."

"What was the clue the Clippings Book gave Baird and Flynn?" Jacob asked Ezekiel.

"No idea. Jenkins didn't say. He just said they were headed to Georgia," Ezekiel told him. Suddenly their mini clippings books all alerted them to a new page as if in response to Jacob's question.

Natsuki leaned over Ezekiel's shoulder to get a look at his. "Is that a flyer for a circus?"

"Yes, it is," Ezekiel said as he pulled out his phone and did a quick search for the name of the Circus. "Last stop was in this town in Georgia, however, as of yesterday they arrived in Tallahassee," he stopped and grinned at Cassandra. "Good call, kid."

"So, they went to the town instead of the circus," Cassandra said with a nod. Her laptop suddenly chimed and she turned to glance at the alert on the screen. "We've got twenty minutes till that storm hits Tallahassee. That's not enough time to find Flynn and Colonel Baird _and_ track down the Pipes. I mean who knows where the Pipes are in that circus. Anyone could have them."

"Then we go and we leave a message with Jenkins," Natsuki said with a decisive nod. "We have the location, we have the solution. They can catch up."

Jacob quirked a brow at her. "Yeah, you don't know, Baird. She'd _hate_ that."

"Well, then you all go find her because I'm not wasting any more time," Natsuki said with a huff as she held out her hand for Cassandra's notebook. "I've got the Ring of Dispell, I'll go on ahead and get started. You guys can follow when you've found The Librarian and The Guardian."

Cassandra gripped the notebook tighter. "You can't go on your own."

"My sister is out there under some sort of spell. I'm not going to wait while whoever this is possibly gets away under cover of that storm," she told them. "The storm comes after right?" She asked. Cassandra bit her bottom lip and nodded hesitantly. "I refuse to let them get away. So, you guys wait for Colonel Baird. I don't work for the Library so I'm under no obligation to follow orders."

Natsuki turned and gave Ezekiel a hopeful look to see if he'd help her convince them when he said nothing she sighed and then turned to leave without the notebook.

"Wait," Ezekiel called after her. "I'm usually the first to be impulsive and break the rules, but we need to be smart about this," he told her as he briefly gave Cassandra an Stone an awkward glance. "We don't know what's waiting at that circus. You shouldn't go alone."

"She's my sister, Ezekiel," Natsuki said as she gave him a pleading glance. "I told you earlier, she's always there for me. Now it's my turn. I _won't_ fail her. I have to go and I can't wait on anyone else."

"Fine," he said as he let out a frustrated exhale. "Then I'm going with you." On his way past Cassie he bumped her lightly as if he'd accidentally misjudged the distance between them and then held up the notebook for Natsuki to see. "And I've got the information on how to fix this mess."

"Hey!" Cassandra yelled indignantly. "That was rude, Ezekiel!"

"Sorry, Kid," he said with an apologetic grin. "I told her I'd help her see the big picture and I plan to follow through. You're welcome to tag along!"

Ezekiel caught up with Natsuki and then they both sprinted off toward the door to the Annex. After a moment of silence Jacob gave Cassandra a knowing look.

"You want to follow them, don't you?" He asked with a sigh.

"They'll never find it in time on their own," Cassandra said as she turned to face him with an eager pleading expression. She fluttered her eyelashes at him and he groaned in frustration.

"Fine," he said. "But if Baird asks, I'm blaming you and him. I tried to stop all of you, clear?"

She beamed at him and then called over her shoulder as she followed Natsuki and Ezekiel. "Clear!"

His shoulders sagged as he trudged after the three of them. Why did he let them drag him into these things?

* * *

Ezekiel and Natsuki rushed in from the Library and were quickly followed by Cassandra and Jacob. Jenkins watched in a daze as Ezekiel dialed up the door and then all four of them ran through it. No one stopped to say a word to him and it happened in a matter of seconds. Finally, the door opened again and Cassandra peeked her head through.

"Oh! Mr. Jenkins! When Baird and Flynn get back, tell them the Pipes are in Tallahasse and to meet us there, will you? Thanks so much!"

And then she was gone again.

Oh, the Colonel was not going to like this.


	27. Episode 05, Act 04

...And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

Act 04: The Piper

* * *

"Okay," Jacob said as Cassie stepped through the door. "Now what do we do?"

"We split up," Natsuki suggested. "We should split the site down the middle. That's what Sakura and I do when we locate a nogistune." She took the notebook from Ezekiel and handed it back to Cassandra along with her pen. "Write down another copy of the notes, please. We'll take a copy and head North. You guys take the notebook and head south."

"The wind is starting to pick up," Cassandra said as she quickly wrote out the notes Jacob had copied down. "We need to hurry. The storm's almost here."

"Call us if you find the Pipes," Jacob told Ezekiel.

"Same to you," Ezekiel said with a nod.

"Be careful, guys," Cassandra said with a nervous glance around the group. "We don't know who has the Pipes or what they're capable of."

"Lucky for us, whoever's got them doesn't know what I'm capable of," Natsuki said with a vengeful expression as Cassandra handed her the notes. Good luck," she said as she grabbed Ezekiel by the hood of his jacket and headed north.

"This is creepy," Ezekiel said as she released his jacket and they continued to walk. He glanced around the circus grounds and found no one. It was completely empty. "Where are all the people? There are tents and trailers all over this place but not a single person."

"Whoever this is cleared everyone out," Natsuki said with a nod. "It's a trap."

"And we're okay with walking right into it?" Ezekiel asked her.

"If we're prepared for a trap then it's fine," she told him dismissively. "It's when you walk into one and you're caught unawares that there's trouble."

"If you say so," Ezekiel said with a quirked brow.

"Trust me," Natsuki told him as she turned and gave him a reassuring smile. "My sister and I are experts at walking into traps and setting them too for that matter."

Ezekiel blinked at her and gently grabbed her arm to stop her. "Right, but your sister is currently working for our bad guy. Isn't that a problem?"

She froze and then winced. "I was trying not to think about that. Thanks." She sighed and then started forward again. "Stay close and keep an eye out for snares or booby traps."

"Never had any intention of drifting too far from the shapeshifting trickster goddess. I'm well aware I'm better off glued to your side," Ezekiel told her with a smirk. "Not a bad spot to be in, honestly."

She turned and grinned at him. "Are you trying to flirt with me, Jones?"

"Maybe. Would you mind if I were?" He asked her with a mischievous expression.

"As long as you know that's as far as it can go," she told him with a grin. She winked at him before she continued. "I'm a bit too old for you."

He shrugged and shook his head. "Age is nothing but a number. It doesn't bother me."

Natsuki chuckled but didn't respond. She walked ahead of him and kept an eye out for anything suspicious. It may have sounded like she was joking earlier, but she wasn't. Flirting was as far as anything could go. It may not bother him now, but it would eventually when he was aging and she wasn't. Besides, she refused to follow the example her sisters had left for her. She refused to have their weakness. It was a story many of her sisters had been a part of and a cliché of their kind. Men and love were their weaknesses. She had too much good she wanted to do in the world for that to get in her way.

Ezekiel stopped and then gently reached out to tug on Natsuki's wrist. "Do you hear that? The music?"

She shook away her thoughts to listen. She had keen ears and she could make out which direction it was coming from. "Yes, this way." She motioned Ezekiel to follow her as they turned and walked toward the music. She was on the look out for any one or anything that looked out of place as they walked. This was too easy. It had her on edge.

* * *

"What do you think of her?" Cassandra asked Jacob as they walked in the opposite direction.

"Who?" He asked.

She gave him a pointed look. "Who? Really, Jacob?"

"Natsuki?" He asked as kept an eye on their surroundings.

"Yes, Natsuki," she answered. "I like her."

"You like everyone," Jacob said with a chuckle.

"That's not true," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't like Dulaque or Morgan le Fey."

"Okay, you like everyone who's not a homicidal sociopath. Better?" Jacob asked her with a grin.

"Much, thank you," Cassandra said with a playful grin. "But seriously, what do you think?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know her. She seems tough enough to work with us. She's determined. But she's got a bit of an attitude problem and doesn't exactly seem like a team player. I don't know that I'd what to work with her all the time like Sakura does but for now it's fine."

"Ezekiel seems to like her," Cassandra told him with a small smile.

"That doesn't exactly work in her favor," Jacob told her. "Not with me anyway."

"Should there be people milling around out here?" Cassandra asked as they passed an empty trailer that should have belonged to a performer. "We're backstage and Circuses require a lot of people. This place is deserted. It's strange."

Jacob nodded in agreement. "We're walking into a trap. Whoever's got Sakura and the Pipe knows we're close."

"Should we warn Natsuki and Ezekiel?" Cassandra asked as she started to pull out her phone.

"No," Stone said as he put a hand over hers as she started to dial. "Both Jones and Natsuki are strategists. They'll know a trap when they see one."

Cassandra's eyes squinted and her brow furrowed as she turned her head to the left. "I can't tell if I actually hear music or if I'm having an episode."

Jacob stopped and turned to face the direction she was looking in. He could hear it too. It was faint, but he could hear it. "No, that's music. Definitely music."

"The Pipes?" She asked worriedly.

"Could be. Either way it's a sign of life. First of those we've seen since we got here. We have to check it out," he said as he motioned for her to follow him.

* * *

The four of them reached the source of the music at the same time. It was the big top tent. No one liked that coincidence very much.

"You guys heard the music too?" Ezekiel asked Cassandra and Jacob as they approached.

When they nodded Natsuki sighed. "This is definitely a trap."

They stood and stared at the entrance for several moments before Natsuki took a deep breath and turned to face the others. She pointed to Jacob as she spoke. "You look like you know how to fight."

"You could say that," he said with a smirk.

"Good. You and I are going in first," she told him. "Ezekiel and Cassandra will stay in the entrance until we've scoped out whatever is in there. Stay out of sight. Got it?"

"We can help," Cassandra said with a huff.

Natsuki smiled at her and nodded. "I know and you will. We just need to know what's in there first so we can make a real plan. Trust me. I'm not leaving you out, Cassandra."

"You realize this trap is most likely set for you," Jacob told Natsuki with a worried glance.

"I'm well aware," she told him. "Which is why you're my back up. Can you stay out of sight unless I need you? We need them to think I'm alone as long as we can pull it off."

"You sure you're up for this?" Ezekiel asked her. "One of that 'them' you're talking about is your sister."

"I have no choice, Ezekiel," she said with a sigh. "I have to be up for this. There's no other option. I'm going in first." She paused awkward and then glanced at the three of them in hesitation. "This might be a little weird."

"What?" Cassandra asked her with a furrowed brow.

"This," Natsuki said before she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and started to change. Ezekiel had seen it before so he wasn't shocked, but Cassandra and Stone watched with wide eyes and awed faces. A minute later, a wolf sized fox with several tails sat in front of them.

"Why would that be weird?" Cassandra asked as she feigned calm. "That's not weird at all."

The fox blinked at Cassandra for a long moment as if she didn't believe her and then turned and slinked into the tent silently. Jake followed after her and then ducked behind the stands just inside the door to stay out of sight. He tried to locate Natsuki but he couldn't find her fox form anywhere. He could, however, see a scrawny kid sitting in a gaudy wooden throne at the far end of the tent with a nine tailed fox sitting at his feet. That fox had more tails and was about a foot larger than Natsuki. That had to be Sakura. Surrounding them both were various other animals. He could see a tiger, a lion, a goat, a donkey, two elephants, a giant black bear, several black poodles, and a large group of very domestic looking dogs.

And in the man's hand were the Pipes.

All those animals were between them and the Pipes. They'd been in more than a few tough spots but they'd never had to fight a small army of deadly animals. The elephants suddenly reared up and made panicked noises which riled all the other animals. Jacob thought he saw the briefest flash of movement by one of the elephants before they both charged for the opposite entrance from him. The lion was unable to resist a moving target and followed after them. The man on the throne cursed and played a series of notes before motioning for the bear and the tiger to follow them. Presumably to bring them back.

The next moment Jacob felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned to face Natsuki, in her human form, motioning him to the exit.

They reached outside and she and Jacob pulled Ezekiel and Cassandra further around the other side of the tent to ensure they stayed out of sight.

"Did you do that?" Jacob asked her with a smirk.

She chuckled and nodded. "No way I was sending all of us in there with 2 elephants, 2 large cats, and a bear. I had to spook them. That pipe can't keep them from serving their instincts."

"That's what that shaking was?" Cassandra asked. "There were elephants in there?"

She nodded. "And they'll be back as soon as the tiger and the bear can herd them back here. We need to get that Pipe now."

"How?" Jacob asked her. "The guy won't let go of it."

"We have a master thief," Natsuki said as she motioned to Ezekiel. "We'll let him worry about that. We need to keep the animals distracted so he can snatch it. I'll take on Sakura. I can lure her away. I have no doubt," she told them. "Does anybody know how to play those notes on the Pipes?"

"I played flute in school," Cassandra admitted. "Music extra curriculars look good on college applications. It can't be that different, can it?"

"Let's hope not," Jacob told her with a small grin. "You're the best chance we've got."

"Okay, Ezekiel gets the Pipes and brings them to Cassandra. Stone and Cassandra and myself will take on the animals," Natsuki said with a thoughtful nod.

"What animals are left in there?" Cassandra asked curiously.

"A donkey, a goat, and a whole mess of dogs," Jacob told her.

"There's a goat?" She asked excitedly. "I love goats!"

"Yeah, I don't think you'll like them so much when they run at you at full speed with their head down," Natsuki told her. "It hurts. And donkeys will bite. Their hooves aren't exactly soft either. But it could be worse. Shout if you need help. Any of you. Okay?"

They all nodded and Natsuki turned to Ezekiel. "There's room around the back of the stands to sneak up to the platform where the throne is without being seen. It's getting close enough to our piper to grab those pipes that's going to be the challenge."

"Not for me," Ezekiel said with a confident grin. "I got this."


	28. Episode 05, Act 05

And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

Act 05: Three Ring Circus

* * *

"I need to get Sakura away from him," Natsuki said as she peered inside the tent and then turned to face Ezekiel. "If she's at his feet you'll never get near the Pipes. I'm going in first. Then Ezekiel." She pointed to Cassandra and Jake. "You two be careful. Eve will murder me, immortal or not, if you end up maimed by a goat or something."

Before any one could say anything else Natsuki took a deep breath and marched into the tent without transforming. Right through the center.

"Well, she's fearless," Cassandra said with an impressed grin.

"A little too fearless," Jacob said with a furrowed brow.

"She's not fearless," Ezekiel told them. "Trust me on that." He ducked into the tent and slipped under the stands where Jacob had hidden from sight earlier.

He watched from in between each row in the stands while he moved through the old wooden frame quickly and quietly. The other animals in the big top froze and watched her as she walked, but none moved toward her. The Piper smirked at her and Sakura's fox form paced at his feet, waiting for her turn to strike.

"We've been waiting for you," the Piper said with a grin. "Your sister told me all about you, Tsuki."

Natsuki growled and glared at him. "You don't call me that. Only people I like are allowed to call me that."

The Piper looked to be close to Ezekiel's age. He was tall and lanky and had a grin that made Ezekiel grimace involuntarily. He didn't look creepy but he had a distinct creepy vibe that couldn't be explained.

"You don't like me? Well, I suppose we'll have to fix that. Won't we?" He asked her with a chuckle as he brought the Pipes to his lips.

Here's where they found out if the Ring of Dispel worked. The noise was light and hollow but not at all unpleasant. Natsuki rolled her eyes and stood defiantly in front of the Piper's throne.

"You know, using a magical object to force people to like you is kind of cheating," Natsuki said with a smirk.

His brow furrowed at her and then the Piper glared angrily. "Not possible!" He turned to the fox at his feet and then pointed at Natsuki. "Take her out!"

Sakura's fox form leapt from the platform and landed gently on her feet in front of Natsuki.

"Sakura," Natsuki said pleadingly. "We don't have to do this. Snap out of it. Please."

It wouldn't work. Ezekiel knew it wouldn't work. Natsuki knew it wouldn't work. But she couldn't keep herself from trying. Sakura suddenly pounced at Natsuki with her teeth bared and in a blur of motion Natsuki transformed. That was the quickest he'd seen her transform. Now there were two large foxes chasing each other and snarling and pouncing and rolling all over the tent. They were bounding from one side of the room to the other and climbing up and down the stands. It was a flurry of movement that he could barely keep up with.

He reached the end of the stands and the platform was a few feet away from him. But so were the other animals. Suddenly there was a loud commotion from the entrance they'd come in. He couldn't see any one but he assumed it was caused by Jacob or Cassandra. The Piper motioned to the goat and the donkey and they bounded toward the entrance. There was another noise from the other side and then the dogs were sent away.

If only he would put the Pipes down. The Piper held them tightly in his hand. Ezekiel knew he wouldn't set them down. He loved them too much to let them out of his sight. Ezekiel had one choice. Take him out. Ezekiel jumped out from the stands. He tackled the Piper to the ground, who stared at him with wide fearful eyes.

"How ya doing?" Ezekiel asked with a smirk before he bashed the Piper's hand into the platform and the Pipes fell loose. Ezekiel scrambled to grab them but the Piper pulled him away. Ezekiel turned and punched the Piper across the face. That was the first time he'd actually punched anyone.

Damn, did it hurt. The Piper tried to grab at Ezekiel but he kicked him away and snatched up the Pipes. Now to find Cassandra. He jumped off the platform and raced through the open center of the big top tent. As he passed the two foxes he saw one turn and jump at him. He froze and couldn't seem to make his feet move. There was a huge fox trying to pounce on him with claws and teeth bared. Why couldn't he move? He was Ezekiel Jones. The one thing he did best was run.

Just as the fox, that he assumed was Sakura reached him, Natsuki came out of no where. Natsuki's fox form blocked Sakura's teeth from sinking into Ezekiel with her own body. She yelped and both foxes fell to the ground. The sound of the strangled yelp suddenly brought Ezekiel back to reality and he bolted for the entrance where he'd left Cassandra and Stone. He found Cassandra under the stands with a goat and donkey tangled in the wooden rafters. The goat was caught by his horns and the donkey's gangly legs were trapped several places.

"Sorry! Sorry!" he heard Cassandra saying sympathetically. "I'll get you out when this is all over I promise."

He smirked at little at that. Even when they were attacking her she cared about animals. What else did he expect, really?

"Cassandra!" Ezekiel called as he went into the stands after her. "Here!" He tossed the pipes and she caught them easily.

Cassandra hurried out from under the stands with Ezekiel. They came out just in time to see Natsuki in her human form hunched over slightly and racing toward Jake who was being surrounded by angry snarling dogs. She transformed mid jump and skid to a stop in front of Jacob, who appeared to be bleeding in more than a few places. She made a high pitched noise that nearly sounded like a cackle and then knocked the dogs away. Taking the brunt of the attacks herself.

"Oh god," Cassandra said worriedly as she caught sight of the chaos.

"Focus, Cassandra," Ezekiel said as he swallowed his own panic. "The sooner you play those notes, the sooner this is all over."

She nodded and took a good look at the Pipes. Ezekiel glanced around the room. He kept an eye out for anyone who might come after Cassandra. The Piper was still knocked out on the stage.

The dogs suddenly split up and half of them began to race toward Ezekiel and Cassandra. Natsuki and Jacob were still weakly fighting off the rest of them. Cassandra gingerly played each end of the pipe to try and place the notes. It felt as if it were taking her an eternity, but he knew it wasn't. The dogs were too close for his comfort. Just as he thought they were done for two figures appeared in front of him.

"Seriously? You're being attacked by a pack of neighborhood dogs?" one of them asked with a huff. "This guy couldn't find anything more terrifying than that?"

He recognized that huff.

"Colonel Baird!" Ezekiel shouted in relief.

"I don't know, Eve, they seem pretty terrifying to me," Flynn said as he quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around his arm.

Just as the dogs reached them Cassandra played the notes. She played them loud and long and as soon as it was done everything seemed to stop. The dogs stopped mid-stride and Sakura cowered and whined as she attempted to cover her ears with her paws.

Ezekiel's shoulders relaxed and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jacob!" Cassandra immediately exclaimed as she shoved the Pipes into Flynn's hands and sprinted across the tent. By the time Ezekiel reached Jacob and Natsuki Sakura was already there supporting her sister and fussing over her.

"You're bleeding," Sakura exclaimed as she tried to examine Natsuki's injuries.

Natsuki chuckled at her and shook her head. "So are you."

"I didn't expect you to put up such a strong fight!" Sakura said she touched the gash on her own side and winced.

Natsuki feigned offence and then laughed. "Gee, thank you, sister. Your confidence is really astounding."

"No, not because—Oh you know what I mean," Sakura said as she dismissed her own wounds quickly and then lifted Natsuki's shirt. "I can't believe you jumped in front of the kid like that. I can't believe I bit you. Oh god, Tsuki, I'm—I'm so sorry."

Ezekiel felt the need to look away and give them a moment as Sakura seemed to dissolve into tears.

"Hey," Natsuki said softly. "You weren't in control, okay? It wasn't you." Her voice was soothing as he walked away toward Jacob and Cassandra. He felt for both of them. They were forced to fight the only family they had. He couldn't imagine how he would feel if someone forced him to fight his team. He'd never forgive himself.

"Could have been worse," Stone told Cassandra as she caressed a large cut on his face and looked at him with concern. "If Natsuki hadn't jumped in it would have been worse," he admitted.

"Now that's what I call a dog fight, mate," Ezekiel said with a smirk as he tried to break the tension. "Maybe you'll walk away with a few wicked looking scars."

"You think?" Jacob asked with a grin.

"Seriously?" Cassandra asked them both in disbelief.

"Scars give a guy something to brag about, darlin'," Jacob told her with a chuckle and a wink.

"And they're great ice breakers when you're trying to hit it off with a woman," Ezekiel added with a wide grin. "Women like a man with a look of danger."

"Is that so?" Cassandra asked Jacob pointedly.

He ducked his head and cleared his throat. "I, um, you know, I think I maybe heard something about that."

"You four are in big trouble, you know that right?" Eve asked sternly as she and Flynn joined the group. "You should have waited for us."

"The storm was closing in," Cassandra told her. "There was no time."

"You could have all been killed," she told them.

"No way," Ezekiel said with a smirk as he turned to glance quickly at Natsuki and Sakura. "Natsuki had our backs. You should have seen her in action. It was pretty impressive."

Natsuki smiled softly at him and nodded. "Thanks." She shrugged and then winced at how it must have jostled one of her wounds. "It was nothing, though, really. This was my fight. I couldn't let anything happen to you guys."

Sakura sighed as Natsuki took a deep breath and then winced again.

"We need to get you back to The Library and dress those wounds," Sakura said sternly. "Where's the Door?" She looked up and gave the group an expectant look. Her tone was clipped and terse. She clearly wasn't in the mood for small talk.

"Of course," Flynn said in a soft patient tone. "I'll show you. Follow me, ladies."

The group watched Flynn, Natsuki, and Sakura leave the tent. They waited until they were certain the two women were out of earshot before they spoke again.

"Don't be too hard on her, Colonel," Cassandra said as she wrapped an arm around Jacob and let him lean on her slightly. He must have hurt his ankle during the fight. "She was doing what she felt she had to."

"And," Jacob added with a nod. "She kept me from getting sliced and diced. Most of those wounds she had were a result of protecting me."

"And me," Ezekiel said with a worried sigh. "That bite you saw on her stomach? She got it protecting me from Sakura."

"You guys trust her?" Eve asked them curiously. She quirked a surprised eyebrow at them as they all nodded.

"For the most part," Jacob clarified. "I, at least, trust her to watch my back in a fight. That's as good a place to start as any."

There was a groan from the platform and Ezekiel rolled his eyes. "Our Piper finally awakes. Perfect timing."

Eve turned to look at the kid that was slowly sitting up. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course it's a kid. A severely creepy looking kid."

"What do we do with him?" Cassandra asked. "We can't just let him get away with this."

"He won't," Eve told them. "I've already alerted the authorities. Told them someone had attempted to snatch animals from the circus and surrounding neighborhoods. They're on their way to pick him up." She motioned to Jacob's bloody state and then the entrance to the tent. "You guys go, I'll make sure the kid stays put and then catch up. I want to have a little talk with this guy anyway."

Eve left them and walked toward the platform. She sat down next the Piper and pulled him back down when he tried to stand up and walk away. He said something they couldn't hear and glared at her. She yawned and gave him an unimpressed glance in return.

Ezekiel laughed at the scene in front of him before turning back to Jacob and Cassandra. "She'll be fine. Let's go home."

"Ready when you are," Cassandra told them both as she waited for Jacob to adjust his weight so they could walk.

"One things for sure," Jacob said as the three of them began to walk. "I will never attend the circus ever again."

"I'd never been to the Circus before today and I can't say I'm eager to come back," Cassandra agreed. "And I will definitely never look at a goat the same way ever again."

Ezekiel chuckled as she shuddered slightly and winced.

He'd count this case as a success. Everyone was in one piece, give or take a scrape or two, and they retrieved the artifact. Not to mention stopped an insane storm from happening as a result of a magical artifact and released a former Guardian from an enchantment. Any day Team Library stays in tact and saves the world is a truly great day.


	29. Episode 05, Act 06

...And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

Act 06: Recovery

* * *

When they made it back to the Annex, Sakura was busily stitching up the bite on Natsuki's stomach. Ezekiel winced at the sight of the blood and the gash and quickly headed to the other side of the table.

"You have a few serious scratches yourself, you know," Natsuki said with a grimace as Sakura continued to stitch.

"Yes, you managed to get a few good licks in, didn't you?" Sakura asked with a proud grin.

Natsuki tilted her head to the left for a quick moment instead of shrugging and then grinned. "All that sparring we do had to come in handy sometime."

Jenkins was hovering and watching Sakura closely as if he knew there was something else coming. Once again, Ezekiel wondered just how well those two knew each other. He also still had questions about which Librarian Sakura guarded and why it hadn't come up last time they'd met her.

She finished Natsuki's stitches and Natsuki gingerly stood from the table. "Your turn." Natsuki reached to take the supplies from her but Jenkins shook his head and sighed.

"You are in no condition to tend to anyone else, young lady," Jenkins told her as he took the supplies from Sakura to keep them away from Natsuki. "Sit. Rest. I will take care of the Lady Sakura." Jenkins gave Ezekiel an amused glance before he continued. "And I think we should take this into my lab. Mr. Jones appears to be slightly squeamish."

"What?" He asked in surprise. "No. I'm not—I mean you don't have to move just because I—"

Jacob laughed and shook his head at the younger man. "Give it up, Jones. We all saw your reaction when we walked in."

Natsuki smirked at him as Ezekiel walked around the table to sit in the chair next her. "It's okay, kid," she said with a chuckle. "A needle sewing skin together isn't exactly something most people like to see."

"You took a pretty big blow for me," Ezekiel told her.

"Yeah, well, you froze," she said with a teasing smirk. "What choice did I have?"

"I didn't freeze!" He said with an embarrassed blush.

"Yeah, you did. Like a little started deer," she said with a soft laugh. She smiled affectionately at him. "Don't worry though, it was kind of cute." She turned to look at Jacob who was leaning carefully against the table. "How are your injuries? Anything serious?"

"Small cuts, a few scrapes, some bruised knuckles. I turned my ankle trying to climb the stands," he said as he touched a cut above his eyebrow. "Lots of blood, but minor injuries. Looks worse than it actually is."

"Anything deep?" She asked. Natsuki looked at Cassandra more than Jacob when she asked. She knew Cassandra had gotten a better look at his injuries than Jacob had.

"No," Cassandra answered. "Everything is mercifully shallow, and no bites. Just scratches."

"Good," Natsuki said with a nod. She looked at both Ezekiel and Cassandra before she spoke again. "And you two?"

"Bruises from the Piper guy and my hand hurts like hell. He was scrawny but scrappy. No one warned me how much punching a guy hurts. I've got nothing like the two of you though," Ezekiel answered as he shook his hand and made a fist to try and work out the soreness.

Cassandra nodded in agreement. "Got the edge of a hoof once, but nothing more than that."

"Let me see," Natsuki said worriedly as she took the hand Ezekiel had fisted and examined it. He gulped nervously and felt his mouth go dry as both of her hands held his hurt one and she ran her thumbs gently across his knuckles. "No swelling," she told him as she released his hand. "No broken bones as best I can tell. If you ice it you'll be fine. Thankfully," she met his eyes and gave him an encouraging smile. "I saw that punch. For a first punch that was pretty solid. Nice work."

He chuckled and smirked proudly. "Thanks. It's no surprise, considering how awesome I am."

Natsuki quirked a brow at him with an amused grin. She chose not to ignore him and not reply with a witty quip. She continued without acknowledging him. "Considering how remarkably whole you three are there's a chance Colonel Baird won't murder me too badly," Natsuki said with nervous sigh. "I may be immortal but that woman is kind of terrifying."

The three junior Librarians grinned at the truth of her observation. Eve Baird was formidable and intimidating even to the most legendary of figures.

"How's your sister?" Cassandra asked her.

Natsuki sighed and shook her head. "Hard to say. She hasn't said much, but judging by how protective she's been since the fight ended…probably not good. Protective is her panic mode. That's why Jenkins was hovering. He knows that as well as I do."

The Back Door swung open and Flynn came in with a small glass case in his hand.

"Natsuki, I will need the Ring of Dispel back, please," Flynn said as he removed the glass lid and held out the base toward her.

"Right," she said with a small smile. "Thanks for letting me borrow it." She took the ring off and then placed it on the platform. "You should have seen the look on the kids face when those Pipes didn't work on me. Classic."

"You returned the favor several times over, I think," Flynn told her with a kind smile as he placed the lid back on the ring. "You kept these three alive and, trust us, we're well aware of how difficult a job that is."

"Gee, thanks," Ezekiel said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Eve said as the back door opened again and she stepped through from the Circus grounds. "Usually that's my job. You covered for me pretty well though, I think. You had some moves, Natsuki. Not bad for a shape shifting immortal being." Eve paused and blinked in surprise at her own words. "First time I've ever said all of those words together. Probably not the last though."

"Thank you," Natsuki said with a nervous smile. "I kept thinking you'd kill me if I let anything happen to them. That was sufficient motivation."

Eve smirked. "Good to know. I do have a bone to pick though. With all four of you." She gave them all a stern glare. "You jumped the gun. You should have waited for back up. We knew too little about that artifact and the person who was using it to jump right in, and you all knew that or else you wouldn't have felt the need to rush off without myself and Flynn. Just because people keep saying 'librarians die' like it's inevitable doesn't mean it's happening on my watch. Got it?"

They all nodded silently and Eve huffed before she repeated herself in a louder tone. She wasn't convinced they heard her.

"Got it?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely."

"Got what, exactly?"

All eyes turned to glare at Ezekiel before Eve rolled her eyes at him. "Jones," she said with a bored gaze.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," he said with a smirk. "Back up: good. Dying: bad."

"And don't you forget it," Eve told him with a small grin. She paused for a moment and then continued with a thoughtful gaze focused on Natsuki. "Guys, can I talk to Natsuki alone for a moment?"

They all nodded and dispersed to various areas of the Annex to give Eve and Natsuki a bit of privacy.

Eve sat down in the seat Ezekiel vacated and patted Natsuki's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Really, you don't have to—"

"No, I do," Eve told her. "Those three are my family. I would protect them with my life. In fact, it's my job to protect them with my life. My responsibility. Anyone who would make the same sacrifice for those people has my respect and gratitude. You jumped in front of both Ezekiel and Stone without hesitation. Not everyone would do that."

"Not everyone would help two people who'd attempted to deceive and lie to them in the past," Natsuki reminded her. "The first time you met me and my sister we'd kidnapped some poor girl and lied to you. If you could help us then it's no problem at all for me to help all of you. It was the right thing to do."

"Right thing or not," Eve said with a kind smile. "You kept my team alive and I'm grateful."

"Not necessary. They're a good team. I was happy to help," Natsuki replied honestly. "Really, I should thank you for letting me tag along. I'm not exactly easy to work with on my absolute best day. I know that."

Eve started to say something else but before she could Sakura and Jenkins came back into the room.

"Tsuki," Sakura said softly. "Can we talk outside?"

Natsuki gave Eve an apologetic look and immediately followed her sister toward the door.

"You and Sakura seem awfully close," Eve said as she and Jenkins watched the two sisters walk away. "You ever gonna tell me how that happened?"

"Dwelling on the past serves no purpose, Colonel Baird," Jenkins said simply before he turned and retreated back into his lab.

"I'll take that as a no then," Eve called after him with an amused grin.


	30. Episode 05, Tag

...And the Possibilities

by angellwings

* * *

Episode 05: ...And the Call of the Wild

Tag: The Offer

* * *

"I'm sorry," Natsuki said immediately when they reached the yard outside of the Annex.

Sakura gave her a confused glance. "For what? Tsuki, you did nothing wrong."

"I should have been able to get to you sooner. I should have stopped this from happening to begin with. We should never have split up. Splitting up was my idea and if I hadn't suggested it—"

Sakura shook her head and held up a hand to interrupt Natsuki. "None of this is your fault. You couldn't have seen this coming any more than I could have. Sometimes it's simply a case of wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You needed me and I couldn't reach you in time. If the positions were reversed you would have gotten to me soon—"

"Do you have such little faith in your own ability?" Sakura asked her sympathetically. "You cannot possibly think that this is your fault. It's because of you that I'm standing here now. It's because of you that two of those Librarians are still alive. You did a commendable thing today, and you did it without me."

She shook her head. "I did it because I had to. I'm still the screw up he—"

Sakura sighed and interrupted her yet again. "I simply do not understand how you could come to believe that you're a screw up. You're young, you're still learning. You're not a screw up. You're capable of so much more than you know, Natsuki. Have I somehow led you to believe that you're worth less than me? Have I done something to cause this insecurity you're feeling?"

"No, no of course not!" Natsuki answered. "You've been nothing but supportive. You're always here for me when I need you. It has nothing to do with anything you've done."

"Jenkins told me you seemed so shaken while I was gone. Please, if it's not anything I've done then tell me why," Sakura said as she placed her hands on her sister's shoulders and squeezed sympathetically.

"You're just so good, Sakura," Natsuki told her honestly with a shaky breath. "I can never be you. I could never live up to anything you've done. No matter how hard I try I will never measure up to you. I can't."

"Measure up to me?" Sakura asked her in surprise. "You don't need to. Just be who you are. I don't want you to be me. I don't want you to make my mistakes or repeat my life. I want you to have your own. To create your own path in the world and have adventures I've never had." She gave her younger sister a thoughtful and concerned look. "Maybe…maybe we've worked together too long."

"What?" Natsuki asked her with wide eyes. "No. Sakura, that's not it."

"No, I think it is. I've held onto you for too long. I've played mother hen for far too many years. You're so amazing, Natsuki, but all you see is my shadow. The only way to help you with that is to keep you out of it," Sakura said honestly with a sad smile. "I love working with you, Tsuki. I really do, but I don't want to get in the way of your journey. We all have our own destinies, Imouto. I think it's time you find yours."

Natsuki took a deep breath and shook her head. "I have no idea where I'm supposed to start looking."

Sakura hugged her sister and then gave her a reassuring smile. "You're very intelligent, Tsuki. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"I mean what am I supposed to do now?" Natsuki asked her. "Where do I go from here?" Suddenly a white envelope hit the side of Natuki's face and fell to the ground. It landed at her feet as she hissed in pain and rubbed her cheek. "What the hell?"

Sakura laughed and glanced in the direction the envelope had come from. There was no one there, just an empty doorway leading back into the Annex. "If it was a snake it would have bitten you. I think that's for you."

Natsuki's brow furrowed as she hesitantly picked up the envelope. She studied the front and found her name written on it in gold ink that seemed to glow very faintly.

"You're being recruited," Sakura told her with a smirk. "Looks like your destiny found you, Imouto."

* * *

Jenkins brought out tea from the kitchen for all of them as Jacob, Cassandra, and Ezekiel informed Eve, Flynn and Jenkins of what went on at the circus. They were interrupted by Natsuki storming into the Annex with a white card and envelope in one hand.

"Is this a joke?" Natsuki asked them with a glare. "Because if it is, it's not a particularly funny one."

They all stared at the envelope and card in her hand in surprise.

Ezekiel smirked and pointed at it before looking back at the rest of his team. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It wasn't them, Tsuki," Sakura told her with an amused grin.

"If it wasn't them then who was it?" She asked her sister with a furrowed brow.

Everyone in the room pointed up at the Annex's ceiling and smirked at her knowingly.

"If you received a letter then it was The Library," Flynn told her.

"The Library?" Natsuki asked. "The building offered me a job?"

"The sentient building offered you a job," Jenkins said as he corrected her. "Just to clarify."

Eve stood from the table and walked over to Natsuki. She stood over her shoulder and read the letter in her hand before giving her a look of disbelief.

"You're the new Guardian," Eve said with a relieved grin. She glanced up at the ceiling with a bright smile and yelled, "FINALLY! Thank you!" She then turned back to Natsuki. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this place to hire me some help?"

"No way," Natsuki said as she shook her head. "The Library can't want me. I've never worked with a team before. Just Sakura. And surely you guys would want someone with a little more experience than me. Maybe somebody with military training like you, Colonel Baird. I'm not precise or disciplined and I hate guns. I mean I hate them. This has to be a mistake. Right?"

Cassandra smiled at Natsuki in understanding but shook her head before she answered her. "The Library doesn't make mistakes. The Library is offering you a job, Natsuki. On purpose."

"And after today who can blame him?" Jacob asked.

"He?" Ezekiel asked. "You think the Library is a he?"

"You don't?" Jacob asked in return.

"Never really thought about it, honestly," Ezekiel said with a furrowed brow. "I guess I could see that."

"I have to agree with Mr. Stone. You proved yourself today," Jenkins told Natsuki with a kind smile. "You served these Librarians with capabilities that surpass any expectation. You're a fighter, Natsuki, and you care about people. Those are the two most important qualifications for an excellent Guardian. Your letter is not a mistake."

"So, what do you say?" Ezekiel asked her with an eager smile as he stood and walked across the room to join Natsuki and Eve. "Want to help us save the world every week? Twice before Friday?"

"It's a chance to have your own adventures," Sakura told her pointedly. "And it's the most good you'll ever do in this life. Trust me on that one."

Natsuki took a deep nervous breath and then nodded with a beaming smile. "Okay, I'm in. Let's do this."

"This is history in the making!" Flynn exclaimed as he stood from the table. "This is the first time the Library has employed two Guardians. Wait no, a Guardian and a Junior Guardian?" Flynn asked thoughtfully. "Guardian in Waiting? No, too medieval. Oh! Guardianette?"

Eve rolled her eyes and gave her boyfriend an amused smirk. "Stop trying to add 'ette' at the end of everything. It's never going to work."

"No," Jenkins declared confidently. "Guardian Apprentice. Her title should be Guardian Apprentice."

Eve nodded and smiled warmly at Natsuki. "I like it." She held out a hand to Natsuki for a shake. "Welcome to the Library, Guardian Apprentice."

Natsuki stared at the outstretched hand for a long thoughtful moment before she finally accepted it. She'd never once thought she'd get this chance. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, even an immortal lifetime. "Thank you," she said with a contended sigh. Maybe this could become home. Maybe her family could still grow.

Maybe this was how she'd finally prove herself.


End file.
